Local journalism is going extinct in Canada

Ottawa is trying to map out which parts of the country constitute “news deserts,” a sign the government is considering making its funding of journalists a permanent feature within the Canadian policy aesthetic.

Canadian Press, using an access to information request, reported Aug. 8 that the Heritage Department has been working since last December to establish some precision regarding which communities are the most lacking in local media coverage.

To do so, it enlisted the services of academics, such as April Lindgren of Toronto Metropolitan University, who has been tracking turbulence within the local media world through her Local News Research Project for the past several years. It’s a complex task because, while it’s relatively straightforward to keep track of the many failures experienced in the industry since the advent of the internet, it’s not always as easy to keep up with the many new launches that have emerged to replace them.

So far, Lindgren has depended on crowdsourcing for input. Further complicating the tracking, it’s fair to say, is how to quantify the hundreds of online news sites launched by local radio stations.

And of course, there is then the thorny issue of how to assess the value and reach of many of these entrepreneurial ventures. In other words, just because a media outlet exists, how does one determine whether it provides coverage that might be worth subsidizing? What were once major dailies in the country with comprehensive coverage of, to name a few beats, city hall, school boards, post-secondary institutions, courts, police, fire, health, crime and more still exist. But the coverage doesn’t.

As one editor informed me a few years ago, sure, they still cover city council but only “when something big happens.” Alas, the editor had abandoned the once predominant concept that there is, indeed, always something “big” going on at city hall—it is the job of a good beat reporter to discover what it is and let the public know. Which, of course, they can’t do if they are not present and have to depend upon tips from members of the public via social media to find out what “big” stories are unfolding.

Peter Menzies discusses the decline of local journalism in Canada and the government’s efforts to address “news deserts” through funding initiatives like the Local Journalism Initiative (LJI). He highlights the challenges in identifying communities lacking media coverage and the complexities of assessing the value of new media outlets. The piece raises concerns about potential government influence on journalism and the importance of prioritizing community needs over funding requirements. Canada needs real journalism in underserved areas and questions the effectiveness of current funding strategies in promoting genuine local news coverage.

The Canadian government has a $100 million-plus Google fund that subsidizes more than 400 news outfits.

Since the LJI was created in 2019, the panel approved 23 applications for grants from Vancouver-based National Observer.

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