Producers, government and associations take steps toward dialog at nextMEDIA

New media producers, funding agencies and associations took a step closer to national coordination at a closed-door session during the recent nextMEDIA industry conference in Prince Edward Island. Though no concrete measures were announced at a public wrap-up session, industry representatives say they’ve identified a number of key challenges on which the various players can work cooperatively, including helping build the industry’s profile with government decision-makers. On October 23, about two dozen new media leaders gathered for several hours to hash out a six-point course of action for the industry as it faces real or threatened cuts to the most important funding programs. Banff New Media Institute chief Sara Diamond gave delegates to the conference a run-down of the key areas where the group will take further action: Public/government education; Lobbying and strategic thinking on financing; Discussion and debate over regulation; Discussions about potential funding partnerships; Market analysis; Distribution challenge discussions. Participants, which did not include leaders from either the Alliance numériQC or New Media BC, stopped shy of announcing specific things they might do, however, and spoke only in generalities. A panel of stakeholders that included new media producers and government officials only hinted at research projects and other initiatives the group might undertake. The only concrete proposal on the table came from Diamond, who told the public session, "I’ve volunteered the Banff New Media Institute to partner in some of these mid-term plans with the CFTPA (Canadian Film and Television Production Association) and we’re going to develop some white papers and other gathering-type things." Government officials Ted Bairstow, director general of Canadian Culture Online at Canadian Heritage, and Earl Hong Tai, new media sector head at Telefilm Canada, both told the public audience that they were pleased with the afternoon’s developments. Said Bairstow: "I found this meeting quite encouraging and maybe I’ll pick up a little bit…about not just the powers-that-be understanding the power of this industry and the power of this content, but Canadians need to understand it as well. I don’t think the energy and innovation and entrepreneurial spirit that I’ve observed in this space is well known in Canada and I don’t find the products are as well-known or as well-branded in this space as they could be. Part of what I was encouraged by today was this sense that along with filling a lobbying effort, there’s the interest in telling the story of this industry in the broader public and developing more public support and more public awareness of the really amazing and internationally recognized work you do. So I was quite encouraged by the general sense that we’re going to move forward on this on a number of fronts and that many of those will focus on developing really solid information that will help not just government decision-makers and funders, but all the media to understand the power and all the exciting things that happen." Hong Tai went further to say that he saw the special meeting as the beginnings of a more coordinated voice for new media in Canada, though some key challenges lie ahead. "One question that came up was, ‘what is new media?’" Hong Tai told conference delegates. "And that’s a fascinating question to come up in a collection of new media professionals. What that tells me is that we have a few things to do. We have to know what we are as an industry, and as a result of that, once we know what we are as an industry, we have the job of selling the powers-that-be - explaining to them what new media is all about. If we can’t explain to ourselves what new media is, explaining to the powers-that-be is an uphill climb. So what’s encouraging for me is seeing the beginnings of a united voice - a united voice that hopefully can explain to the powers-that-be that this is a vibrant, energetic, productive, job-creating industry. I think that’s the task we have at hand and the challenge." Producers on the panel supported the need for greater lobbying and agreed that the industry’s profile in Ottawa was poor. "A point that we made was that when the CRTC decided not to regulate new media, we became invisible to them. And what we haven’t done is maintain the profile that keeps the CRTC aware of the role that we play," Diamond said. Other producers noted even more important short-term goals such as the need to preserve funding to Telefilm’s Canada New Media Fund. Still, each of the participants on the panel, including the CBC's Mark Hyland, SNAP Media’s Raja Khanna, and Xenophile Media’s Patrick Crowe, noted that opportunities exist to create new and better targeted funding mechanisms once the industry weighs in with a more credible voice. Each of the trio took a forward-looking view in their short comments while stressing the need for a greater level of lobbying. The meeting wasn’t entirely without rancour, however, as the panel participants hinted at divisions behind closed doors. Stephen Comeau told delegates that he’d raised the idea of new media regulation in the same way music, film and television are governed as one potential aid to the sector - a topic that apparently didn’t sit well with many in the session. Khanna hinted at the discord as he apparently spoke for a majority of the participants in saying: "First of all I’d like to make a general statement that to say that the whole new media industry is pro-regulation - we’re not there yet. If I were to take a poll today, I’m guessing the no side would win…As you all know, our industry is already indirectly connected to CRTC decisions in a very serious way from the creation of the Bell Fund all the way to cuts to the Bell Fund. There’s no question that we’re linked. So how do we pinpoint decisions that affect our industry? Things like getting our voice heard when benefits packages are created when there are media mergers and stuff like that. There are great opportunities there to get money, to get support for us without having to create an overall regulatory regime for interactive media." A proposed role for the Banff Centre for the Arts, which runs the Banff New Media Institute, also came under fire in private conversations at the festival. For several months, the fight against cuts and further cuts to sectoral assistance programs has been led by the New Media Business Alliance, New Media BC, the CFTPA and Alliance numériQC. A new role for the Banff Centre has been looked at by some with suspicion, afraid the current agenda of the industrially focused groups might be co-opted.

Producers, government and associations take steps toward dialog at nextMEDIA

Broadcast | November 7, 2003

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