By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – A Conservative amendment that would include smaller organizations of fewer than two journalists who could be compensated by online platforms like Facebook and Apple News for linking to their stories was defeated at the House Heritage committee on Friday.
The Online News Act currently only applies to organizations that “regularly employs two or more journalists in Canada,” which exclude many smaller organizations from benefiting from the initiative.
At a House Heritage committee hearing Friday, Conservative Heritage Critic Rachael Thomas introduced an amendment meant “(…) to include organizations where fewer than two journalists are employed. It would also include that organizations in underserved communities would be included, journalists who work on freelance or a part-time basis, who are maybe shared between these different ethnic organizations.
“Amendment CPC-19 actually stands up for local newspaper outlets, ethnic newspaper outlets, by making sure that it encompasses them if there’s only one journalist working there, including perhaps a part-time or a freelance journalist,” she added.
That amendment was defeated with the combined votes of the Liberals, the NDP, and the Bloc Québécois.
Bloc MP Martin Champoux explained, in French, that “I have been concerned about the very small regional media, which are no less rigorous because they are small, and have been struggling for years with the arrival of the web giants. However, there is also a very important concern with Bill C-18, which is to ensure that the news companies that will be covered by this framework are serious, rigorous news companies.
“The use of two journalists certainly shows that we are talking about a serious news company; at least, we can hope s,” Champoux added. “If you hire more than one journalist, you don’t want to end up with a blogger in the basement just commenting on the news.”
But the same section of the bill was later amended by the NDP – and approved by committee – which proposed that eligible entities “may include journalists who own or are a partner in the news business and journalists who do not deal at arm’s length with the business.”
Screenshot of Bloc MP Martin Champoux
