Online News Act should be defeated, Alberta publisher maintains

The Senate Committee on Transport and Communication continued its study of the Online News Act, Bill C-18, Tuesday with most participants endorsing the government’s bill and one witness vehemently opposed. Derek Fildebrandt, publisher of the Western Standard, condemned the bill and said he wished it would be defeated. Since the Senate rarely rejects legislation from the House of Commons, he called on Senators to amend the act. “We believe for media to be independent, they must be independent of the state,” he declared. “Stop the government from forcing its help on us through C-18.” He said Meta Platforms Inc.’s Facebook has delivered the Standard’s content for free. The former Alberta MLA urged the senators to make C-18 an opt-in operation rather than universal. Earlier witnesses had warned that hate groups could be eligible for support if legislators are not clear about who is and is not covered. “I will voluntarily have us labeled as a hate group if that will get us out of this bill,” Fildebrandt told the panel. Evan Jamison, president of the Alberta Weekly Newspapers Association, was worried how much money would flow to smaller publishers such as his membership. He looked at Australia, whose legislation influenced the Canadian government, but could not draw a definite conclusion. “We have heard encouraging reports out of Australia regarding deals signed by publishers of all sizes,” he stated, “however, there is a lot of secrecy around those deals.” He dismissed criticism that legacy media are dinosaurs. Jamison said newspapers are often early adopters of new technologies. Nicole Doucet, a consultant to the Coalition of Canadian Magazines, urged the committee to expand the definition of eligible media outlets so more of her members could come under the umbrella. Not all magazines would receive funding but more than are covered by current regulations. “Today the state of the ethnic press is dire,” Thomas Saras, president of the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada, said in his opening remarks. Things were bad and have only worsened since the COVID-19 pandemic. “Canada’s ethnic press fights misinformation from all over the world with one powerful weapon–trusted journalism.” It is essential to have diversity of voices in the media, he stated. C-18 can help achieve that, he added. The National Council of Canadian Muslims was concerned about the promulgation of online hate and whether such publishers would fall under the provisions of the Online News Act. “We are here to ask the Senate to consider amending bill C-18 so that news businesses that promote hate are not eligible to be funded by big tech companies,” senior legal counsel Karine Devost remarked. She specifically criticized Quebecor Inc.’s Le Journal de Montréal, which she said often targets Muslims for editorial attack. Linguistic minorities will also benefit from the legislation, according to the Consortium of Official Language Minority Community Media. “I would remind you that local newspapers have been very dependent on government to promote their business and to be able to advertise,” executive director Linda Lauzon said in French, according to a translation. There is not a critical mass to support advertising and the web giants are snapping up most of the ads with the minority language publications picking up the crumbs. This has resulted in many newspapers laying off staff and relying on freelance writers instead. Lauzon reminded the federal government that it is constitutionally required to protect minority official language groups and urged the legislation be cognizant of this. –Reporting by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca and editing by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca.

Online News Act should be defeated, Alberta publisher maintains

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Online News Act should be defeated, Alberta publisher maintains

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