COLUMN: Think Again – Government cannot save the media

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/02/2024 (975 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was a “garbage decision.” That’s how Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described Bell Media’s recent announcement that it was laying off nine per cent of its workforce, selling nearly half of its regional radio stations, and eliminating many of its newscasts.

I didn’t like the announcement either. Giant corporations such as Bell have made a mess of journalism. There’s no question that their decisions over the years to systematically cut back on local newsrooms has led to a decline in the quality of news coverage, which of course leads to people cancelling their subscriptions and to companies pulling their ads. And the downward spiral continues.

Obviously, a free press is vital to a healthy democracy. If citizens are ignorant about what is happening around them, they are unlikely to make informed decisions when it comes time to vote. Journalists also play an important role in holding politicians accountable and making them answer tough questions. Media scrutiny of government is something we should all welcome.

However, it’s a bit rich for Trudeau to complain about Bell’s “garbage decision” when his government’s policies have made the situation worse rather than better. For example, Bill C-18 (the Online News Act), which attempted to force social media giants to compensate news organizations every time they linked to their stories, blew up in the government’s face when Facebook simply removed Canadian news links from its platform. Now it’s harder than ever for Canadian news outlets to share their stories.

It’s also ironic that the federal government continues to give a $1.4 billion annual subsidy to the CBC which then directly competes with private networks such as CTV and Global for advertising dollars. As National Post columnist Tristin Hopper recently put it, this makes about as much sense as expecting private pizza chains to compete against government-run pizza stores that give away their pizzas for free.

We must reject the notion that it’s up to the government to solve this problem. As former U.S. President Ronald Reagan said during his 1981 inaugural address, “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem.”

To be clear, Reagan was speaking about a totally different situation. However, the basic point remains the same—activist governments tend to make things worse rather than better. This is certainly true when it comes to the media.

The worst thing governments could do is to pour even more tax dollars into mainstream media companies. This would make journalists dependent on the government for their livelihoods and undermine their ability to hold politicians and civil servants to account. Polls already show widespread mistrust of the media. More government bailouts will only make that mistrust worse.

Fortunately, there are a growing number of non-traditional media outlets that are doing a great job of providing people with accurate information—and they are doing it without government subsidies.

Consider the example of my good friend Brian Zinchuk, a journalist based in Estevan, Saskatchewan. For many years, Zinchuk worked for a large media company until he decided to start up his own online journal, Pipeline Online. Zinchuk is an expert in energy and Pipeline Online reports on the latest trends in energy production and contains some impressive analysis of the challenges facing this industry. Visit pipelineonline.ca to learn more.

The moral of the story is that there will always be a market for good quality journalism. Instead of propping up failing media companies, governments need to get out of the way and let entrepreneurs do what they do best.

Government cannot save the media, but entrepreneurial journalists like Brian Zinchuk can.

Michael Zwaagstra is a high school teacher and a Steinbach city councillor. He can be reached at mzwaagstra@shaw.ca.