By Ahmad Hathout
A paper petition calling on the federal government to prop up local radio and television news after a string of layoffs in the industry has been presented to the House of Commons on Wednesday.
The petition, which was carried by Kingston Liberal MP Mark Gerretsen, is asking that government to extend the Canadian Journalism Labour Tax Credit to include radio and television; dedicate 70 per cent of federal government advertising dollars on local radio, TV, print and digital media; and eliminate tax-deductions for advertising purchased on foreign-owned, internet-delivered media sites and services.
“The abrupt departures of radio and television journalists and the loss of local programming have negatively affected residents in Kingston and surrounding areas,” the petition, initiated by residents of the areas, says. “The disappearance of crucial local coverage must be a concern for all levels of government. It results in a poorly informed public, less able to politically and socially contribute to a vibrant, cohesive community.”
Major broadcasters this year have announced cuts to their media and news divisions – a historically expensive-to-run business – in light of difficult conditions in the market. This month, Rogers and Corus announced another round of layoffs.
The Canadian Association of Broadcasters, a trade group representing the largest broadcasters, has lamented the lack of support for the news sector, specifically from the Canadian Journalism Labour Tax Credit.
The Online News Act, which requires major tech platforms pay to host Canadian news, is expected to fill some of that hole. Google, which agreed to plow an inflation-adjusted $100 million a year to host that content, is in the process of delivering that money to a news liaison.
But Canadian Heritage has capped broadcaster compensation at 30 per cent and 7 per cent to CBC/Radio-Canada, which is a major source of local news that receives federal dollars and competes in the advertising space.
The CAB has said the division of those funds “do not align with each sector’s respective investment in news, nor with Canadians’ patterns of consumption,” citing Communications Management Inc. data indicating that private TV broadcasters are the largest financial contributors to news.
On the petition’s latter two points: The federal government over the years has come under fire for its ad spending on foreign social media sites like Facebook and Google, both of which dominate the digital ad sales space and who have been blamed for the crumbling of the traditional news business model. There have been calls for the federal government to spend that money domestically.
There have also been calls for the federal government to change the rules of the Income Tax Act to eliminate the tax deductibility of ad spending on foreign platforms.
That said, a report this month from the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage recommended that the government make changes to the Income Tax Act to “allow advertising purchased by businesses on foreign websites to be counted as a fully deductible expense, while restrictions remain for deducting the cost of advertising with Canadian media.”
