Province says it’s meeting ad-spending target to support local journalism

The Manitoba government has said it is making good on its promise to boost local journalism by dedicating 25 per cent of its annual advertising budget toward locally owned or operated media outlets.

A May 21 policy directive issued to government departments, Crown corporations and self-operating agencies, which was obtained by the Free Press, said it aims to support Manitoba-based media and improve “transparency around advertising expenditures.”

The communications and engagement division of Manitoba Finance is to post local media ad buys, including the amount spent, on InfoMB, the province’s website, twice a year.

An all-party committee of the legislature, which was promised in the NDP’s 2024 throne speech, held hearings across the province. It heard that local news outlets have struggled since the internet upended traditional business models and diverted revenue streams to digital platforms.

The committee’s report, released in December 2025, recommended that 25 per cent of government and Crown corporation advertisement budgets be directed to local journalism outlets, and that a tax credit be issued to support the local hiring of journalists.

However, neither recommendation was included in the government’s March budget. Cabinet communications issued a statement saying the province had already “moved forward with recommendations to strengthen this essential source of information.”

The March 25 cabinet communique said the province has a 25 per cent local advertising spend benchmark, which puts Manitoba in line with provinces such as Ontario and reinforces support for local journalism, “a target the province continues to meet.”

The province spent close to $12 million in fiscal 2025-26 on outdoor, website, television, radio, print and social media advertising.

The president and CEO of News Media Canada said Tuesday billboard and transit advertising appear to be part of the ad spending target.

The 25 per cent should be spent on news media to sustain local journalism, Paul Deegan said.

“We have no issue if government wants to take out outdoor signs and transit signs, but we think it’s critically important to reach news media… whether that’s local radio, local TV or print,” said Deegan, who represents most Canadian newspapers and spoke at public consultations in Winnipeg last year.

While 86 per cent of Canadians read local news content every week, sources such as the Free Press, La Liberte and community newspapers across the province have been losing advertising revenue to Google “which various jurisdictions have found operates an illegal monopoly in advertising,” he said.

“The key is to support news because that’s the really the overarching public policy call that came out of the all-party committee,” Deegan said from Montreal.

The Tory caucus questioned whether the government was meeting that target and filed a freedom of information request for cabinet notes or records concerning spending benchmark. This month, it was told “no records exist.”

Cabinet communications director Amy Tuckett-McGimpsey said Tuesday the government is committed to supporting local media, which is why it announced it would ensure at least 25 per cent of advertising spending would be spent locally.

“That is a commitment we have surpassed. In order to ensure transparency in this commitment we will be proactively disclosing our spending on a biannual basis, with the first reporting expected with the province’s second-quarter report.”

Some news outlets have seen an “uptick” in the number of provincial government ads, said the president of the Manitoba Community Newspapers Association.

Mark T. Buss said association board members reported an increase in ad buys during a recent meeting.

“It’s too early to say how much of an increase or to give any numbers or percentages,” the publisher of the Lac du Bonnet/Beausejour Clipper said.

“There seems to be more willingness from the government to work with us,” he said Monday. “The fact we are having conversations like this is, in itself, encouraging.”

A Progressive Conservative member of the all-party committee questioned the government’s commitment to local journalism.

“It’s sort of been a sham from day one,” said Greg Nesbitt. The two PC members of the committee said they had no say in its final report and asked to have their names removed from it.

“I’ve certainly been monitoring community newspapers in Manitoba,” Nesbitt said. “We see consistent advertising from the government, but there’s been no increase at all.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca