TORONTO – CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais brushed aside certain complaints and complainants Wednesday (saying they come from entitled establishment groups unwilling to change) in a speech to the Canadian Club of Toronto where he addressed the Commission’s recent policy decisions and public proceedings.
Blais (pictured above on BNN after his speech) addressed the various grievances lobbed towards the Commission and its recent regulatory actions, quoting author Ralph Waldo Emerson who said: “Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you’re wrong,” noting that his Regulator can relate.
“Some disapprove of the course the CRTC is setting. Our course upsets their entitlements and threatens their livelihoods. These interests express their disapproval clearly and regularly. We all see it on TV; hear it on radio; and read it in media releases, newspapers and blog posts,” he said in an address that touched on the CRTC’s TV Policy Review, its recent local TV hearing and its upcoming review of basic telecom services.
Blais painted the work he and his colleagues are doing as nothing short of reclaiming the Canadian communications system from big companies for Canadian consumers.
“The intense and continuing change the communication system is going through gives rise to anxiety about the future and, therefore, doubt and even fear about the course we’re taking – especially among those with a vested interest in keeping things the way they are,” he said. “That difference of opinion is what brings me here today: to shed light on our course and, in the process, dispel some of that anxiety – or at least in sharing details of our course, persuade more of you to join us on the journey.”
Blais addressed the recently completed local television hearing and the future of traditional TV news, noting “an alarming number of television stations have reduced the length of their newscasts, cut back on staff and centralized production of news programming,” citing cuts at Rogers Media, Bell Media, and CHCH. While acknowledging the myriad changes and challenges facing those working in traditional media, he also noted Canadians told the CRTC during the proceeding they still place tremendous value on local news and don’t want to see it disappear, despite how local stations continue to lose money as advertisers look to spend elsewhere.
“I fear those who manage media… have lost touch with their audiences.” – Jean-Pierre Blais, CRTC
“If we allow each station to be plucked away in the name of profits and losses, what are we left with when the last is removed? What will emerge to replace them?” he asked, placing the blame, rightly or wrongly, as those doing the cutting.
“I fear those who manage media—the corporate executives, accountants, lawyers and MBAs—have lost touch with their audiences. Analysts on Bay Street focus on quarterly results, profits, balance sheets, share prices and other calling cards of private wealth. They do not care nearly as much about the health of costly endeavours that preserve the wealth of our democracy.”
Blais reminded broadcasters they hold “an asset in trust” (spectrum) and have a “social contract” with Canadians to provide them with news and information. “It is a public good. Television news belongs to the marketplace of ideas, not the marketplace of higher dividends for investors. May we never lose sight of this truth,” he said.
Despite how many independent digital news outlets have emerged to fill gaps, often using social media to reach their audiences, Blais doesn’t believe newcomers are ready for the challenge of providing the solid journalism and investigative reporting upon which traditional media outlets still spend heavily.
“Those of a certain age or bent will argue that digital-based, citizen journalism is every bit as effective – maybe more so – as traditional media. That the immediacy with which Twitter, Facebook, Periscope and Meerkat deliver huge volumes of information to computers, tablets and smartphones should be valued over staid, scheduled newscasts.
“I remain unconvinced. For now at least.”
The likes of YouTube, Facebook and Twitter “have been in business barely ten years. Can we as a society afford to entrust something as fundamental to our democracy as news reporting to services like these that are still in their infancies? Newspapers have honed their journalistic practices over centuries; television and radio stations over decades.
“I look forward to the moment when we can say with certainty that they and their peers have fully arrived as genuine, trustworthy and accountable news media outlets. I hope that many more news innovators hasten to arrive. Their help is needed.”
Blais also said he believes there remain ample resources in the system for broadcasters to refine what they do – in order to fulfil their public service responsibilities to Canadians. “The challenge before broadcasters is not to find new sources of money to fund such change, but to redistribute the money already in the system to accommodate the new business reality,” he said.
“Canadians are saying they want news reporting and analysis. I am here to tell you that broadcasters hold a social contract with Canadians. In exchange for using the public airwaves to bring their productions into the homes and onto the devices of Canadians across the country, these enterprises also have a duty to serve the public interest.”
“I listened as Canadians spoke with intelligence and passion to many of the issues I just described, while corporate executives who own luxury yachts and private helicopters came looking for subsidies.” – Blais
He also urged broadcasters to get tougher with their ad clients and remind them how popular local TV is to Canadians. “Tell those marketers they are misguided. Local television news delivers significant live mass audiences on platforms that do not zap or block ads,” he said.
The chairman noted a paradox when it comes to big companies appearing in front of him, in comparison to the Canadians they serve. “I listened as Canadians spoke with intelligence and passion to many of the issues I just described, while corporate executives who own luxury yachts and private helicopters came looking for subsidies.
“When broadcasters appear before the CRTC looking for new licences or approvals of mega-transactions, they make all sorts of promises about how they will invest in programming. But the minute we initiate a policy hearing, we are told the cupboards are bare.”
Blais also recognized the changes the Commission has made will be very hard for many. “It will yield growing pains. It may even force some out of business,” he said. “It has certainly put us as regulators under greater scrutiny.”
Of some predicting that outcome, Blais was unsympathetic, even if he didn’t identify the group or groups he was referring to (cough *Bell* cough *CMPA* cough). “Others are just complaining. They’re forecasting doom and gloom: job cuts, revenue losses, station closures. They run off to court, they run off to Cabinet to seek relief. It’s their right to do so, but it doesn’t make them right.”
