TORONTO — With the news media suffering financially due to Covid-19, almost two-thirds (62%) of Canadians say the federal government should treat the current media crisis as an emergency, according to a new survey conducted by Nanos Research on behalf of the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting.
According to the survey results, released Monday morning, 26% of Canadians agree and 36% somewhat agree that because of the Covid-19 outbreak the federal government should treat widespread media bankruptcies and layoffs as an emergency because professional journalism is essential to keeping Canadians safe.
In addition, nearly three-quarters (74%) of Canadians say content displayed on social media platforms such as Facebook is less accurate than information published by traditional media, such as TV broadcasters and newspapers.
“Many of our most prominent journalism outlets face imminent failure, even after the government’s proposed tax credits and wage subsidies are factored in. This is an acute emergency and Canadians want Ottawa to intervene quickly to save these trusted institutions from mass extinction,” said Friends’ executive director, Daniel Bernhard, in the news release.
When asked whether or not they supported government funding for news providers, two-thirds of Canadians support (26%) or somewhat support (41%) the federal government sending financial aid to failing news providers to keep them from closing down due to the Covid-19 outbreak and related financial difficulties.
Given the context of the Covid-19 crisis, and the fact that more than 250 newspapers have closed in Canada in the last 10 years (according to News Media Canada), a majority of Canadians surveyed (57%) said they believe it is more important now to have a strong and independent CBC, according to the Nanos poll. Furthermore, more than seven in 10 Canadians support (41%) or somewhat support (31%) increasing CBC’s funding to provide more local news and information.
“CBC’s recent cancellation of its local TV newscasts (they have since returned) demonstrates just how frail this treasured institution has become after a generation of cuts. Canadians want Ottawa to equip CBC with the resources it needs to reliably provide timely, accurate, local information to all regions of our vast country,” Bernhard said in the news release.
The Nanos study was based on a hybrid telephone (landline and cell) and online random survey of 1,036 Canadians, 18 years of age or older, between March 30 and April 2, 2020 as part of an omnibus survey. The research was commissioned by Friends and conducted by Nanos Research.
