Paul Deegan is the president and CEO of News Media Canada.
Across Canada, governments have supported journalism for generations. Since the founding of Canada’s first newspaper, the Halifax Gazette, which dates to 1752, government advertising has been an important source of revenue for newspapers. Even prior to Confederation, direct supports, like the former Publications Assistance Program, which subsidized the postal delivery of non-daily newspapers, ensured that Canadians have access to high-quality Canadian news.
Today, community, regional and national news publishers are struggling with declining advertising revenue. In 2012, Canadian newspaper advertising revenue stood at $3.55-billion. Today, it is less than $1-billion. Yet, four out of five Canadians still read newspapers, regardless of format, at least once a week – essentially unchanged since 2012.
While things will never go back to the way they were, and nor should they, governments can do a much better job supporting our domestic news businesses by addressing the advertising revenue challenge through their own advertising spending and procurement policies.
We were very encouraged by the recent news coming out of Premier Doug Ford’s government in Ontario that they are directing Crown corporations such as the LCBO, the Ontario Cannabis Retail Corporation (OCRC), the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG), and Metrolinx to invest 25 per cent of their advertising spend to Ontario-based news businesses. This is forward-looking, smart policy that other provinces, municipalities and the federal government can follow, and it does not involve any additional taxpayer dollars.
Mr. Ford recognizes the importance of journalism to Ontario’s economy. According to the Government of Canada’s Job Bank, there are 4,350 journalists working in Ontario. The impact of those journalists goes beyond the economy as they keep communities across the province connected, informed and engaged.
One of the most powerful tools in any government’s policy tool kit is procurement. Procurement can help governments advance socio-economic policy objectives, including creating jobs and delivering better outcomes. When the Government of Canada spends more per year on advertising with China-based TikTok ($1,113,056) than it does on all of Canada’s print publications combined, something is seriously wrong with government advertising procurement policies. The same holds true for other orders of government.
Ontario isn’t the first jurisdiction to adopt an “earmark” approach when it comes to government advertising. New York’s Local Law 83 mandates the creation of an annual spending report on advertising, displaying each agency’s spending and compliance toward spending 50 per cent of advertising on ethnic and community media.
Subscription revenue alone may be enough to fund websites devoted to intelligent commentary, but fact-based, fact-checked coverage of schools, cops, courts, politicians and businesses – holding the powerful to account – costs real money and demands advertising revenue.
We encourage governments at all levels, as well as our leading corporations such as the large banks, telcos and retailers, to take a cue from the Government of Ontario and follow its lead in supporting our domestic news publishing industry, by earmarking 25 per cent of their advertising spend to news businesses. This will allow us to reinvest in high-quality Canadian journalistic content and in innovative techniques that harness the power of digital tools to engage audiences and sustain viable news businesses that serve the public interest.