Submitted by Peter Kvarnstrom
Does local journalism matter?
You bet it does. Community newspapers employ thousands of journalists, in every corner, across our community and across our great country. They work tirelessly, within our local communities, to bring you the stories that matter to you, the stories that are directly relevant to your life, in your neighbourhood. Their stories about local news, community happenings, births and deaths, civic and regional politics and so much more would otherwise often go untold.
Our journalists work tirelessly to tell the stories in every community we serve. Their work helps us ensure that our readers have access to the stories that matter most — the local ones. The journalism we create is rarely urgent or breaking news. Local journalism is relevant and compelling. Our journalism speaks directly to our readers about their community and their neighbourhood. It reflects the communities we serve; we see ourselves, our friends and our neighbours in our pages. And most importantly we write and tell the stories that no one else does. Our content is truly unique and is under significant pressure.
Just a few days ago, I received an invitation to attend, as a witness, the standing committee on Canadian heritage. MP for Vancouver Centre Hedy Fry was requesting my appearance in Ottawa to share my thoughts and concerns about the state of local journalism and the sustainability of the community newspapers that employ those journalists. It took a few minutes of considering how I could fit that into my impossible calendar, jammed with scheduled meetings with community members, community leaders, chambers of commerce, lunch dates and curling schedules. Was this important enough to rearrange most of a week on short notice? Absolutely!
After a fully packed Air Canada flight, I found myself checking in at the Travelodge in Nepean, Ont. It seems that my attendance in Ottawa coincided with that of the premier of China’s official visit. Not a hotel room available in Ottawa for under $400.
Arriving a few minutes early on the Hill, I was greeted by about a dozen MPs, representing all three major parties and accompanied by a dozen aides and clerks, videographers, journalists and a few members of the public. This was obviously more than a minor inquiry. They were taking this as seriously as I was. Relieved and anxious, I was introduced to the committee and then it was my turn. I was instructed that I had exactly 10 minutes to make my case for why our industry is struggling and what government could do about it.
After decades of watching an industry as it tries to reinvent itself in a digital age, our federal government is sitting up and taking notice. After the Kamloops Daily News, Nanaimo Daily News and the Guelph Mercury shut their doors over the past year, it seems that all levels of government are paying attention.
In most cases, we are the only source of local news and information in our communities. There are many sources of regional, national and international news and information, but our industry is the only one to employ journalists in every community we serve, more than 1,000 communities, across Canada.
Our work is the only way to hold private and public institutions to account. We believe that local journalism and the work we do is vital to ensuring a thriving democracy and civil society.
We are not suffering an audience problem. The most recent research tells us that 87 per cent of Canadians are engaging with our content, our stories, on a weekly basis. Young and old, male and female, French and English, rich and poor, Canadians turn to our pages, whether in print, on computers, mobile or tablet. Whether you love us or hate us, most of you are certainly reading us.
So far so good. They seem focused, interested and caring. Now is the time for recommendations.
What can government do to ensure the survival of local journalism and the publishers that employ them?
Firstly, we are not looking for a bailout. What we are looking for is government support as we transition from an industrial business to a knowledge-based one.
Federal government advertising has declined by 96 per cent in newspapers over the past decade. Provincial government advertising has followed suit. Local governments continue to rely on community papers, because they work. They connect their constituents like nothing else. MPs and MLAs spend their advertising dollars with community papers because they know they are read thoroughly by engaged constituents. They are all nodding their heads in agreement. So far so good.
The federal government has an opportunity to communicate with Canadians in every corner of our great country by using our community papers and their websites, yet they choose to spend our tax dollars with U.S.-based behemoths Google and Facebook.
We ask the government to help us review our advertising model recognizing that it is paid advertising that pays for the journalism and distribution of it. Instead we are watching that advertising flow south of the border to corporations like Google that do not pay significant taxes in Canada, do not employ significant numbers of tax-paying Canadians, and rely on content that they are taking directly from Canadian creators. They have found a way to monetize our content to an incredible level.
Next up: copyright laws. “Fair dealing” within our copyright act is a significant detriment to journalism in Canada. Our creators and publishers pay to create content that many other news aggregators, including CBC, republish, copy, broadcast and sell advertising around without compensating the creator or copyright holder. Not a good plan. They seem to nod in agreement.
Time for some criticism of tax laws written before digital was even imagined. We would suggest a number of taxation strategies that could make a significant difference to community newspaper publishers. Firstly, consider making all subscription and newsstand sales of newspapers a tax-deductible expense for every Canadian, encouraging them in a small way to subscribe to or buy their community newspaper. Secondly, revise the tax laws that allow advertising bought from foreign owned and operated media companies, to be disallowed as a tax-deductible expense. Why should money spent with Google be tax deductible for advertisers?
As publishers of community newspapers, we feel the obligation to serve. In many cases it is no longer about the money we once earned, but rather the obligation to serve the communities where we live. We do not want to abandon small towns, or any communities for that matter. However, we need government to accept some of the responsibility and obligation to ensure we can continue to serve Canadians with critically important local journalism for many, many years to come.
Peter Kvarnstrom is publisher of the North Shore News and president of Glacier Media’s community newspaper group, which includes dailies and weeklies across Western Canada. He is a 50-year North Shore resident, West Vancouver Chamber of Commerce director and past chairman of the Canadian Newspaper Association.
