Local journalism an investment in communities, all-party committee told

BRANDON — Local news is worth saving, managers of several southwestern Manitoba media outlets told provincial politicians at a public consultation Monday.

Ideas that came out of the hearing include providing a tax credit for local advertisers, allocating grant funding to hire journalists in underserved communities, supporting diverse content and earmarking operational funding for community broadcasters.

Ken Waddell, owner of the Neepawa Banner and Press and the Virden Empire Advance, said the provincial government needs to “spend local” and not on social media companies based in the United States.

“Why local newspapers?” Waddell told the four members of the all-party committee set up by the NDP government to support local journalism.

“It’s because we’re reliable and accountable. You can send your ad dollars to Facebook and the internet if you like, but where is the accountability and reliability of those outlets?” he asked.

“Less ads means less news. Less news means a weaker newspaper. A weaker newspaper means a weakened community.”

Waddell was one of seven presenters representing 10 media outlets including the Brandon Sun, Dauphin Herald, Russell Banner, the Manitoba Co-operator, and Neepawa’s community access television NACTV

NACTV news director Rrain Prior said the station’s funding comes from grants, donations, a small amount of advertising and a community bingo.

She suggested the panel consider providing operational funding to eligible community broadcasters, which has been successful in Quebec.

“Less ads means less news. Less news means a weaker newspaper. A weaker newspaper means a weakened community.”– Ken Waddell, owner of the Neepawa Banner and Press and the Virden Empire Advance

“If we genuinely want to address our many ‘news deserts,’ we need to not only strengthen the outlets we already have, but be prepared to support startups, particularly in remote areas and marginalized communities,” Prior said.

“As the only independent television station in the province, outside of Winnipeg, we are called upon to go even further afield. We do this with two and a half staff members and a handful of volunteers on a shoestring budget in a time where there are virtually no barriers when it comes to platforming opinions as facts, and consequently, fake news is rampant,” she said.

“Local journalism created by local news outlets is crucial for accurate, trusted information.”

The Brandon Sun first published in 1882, before the City of Brandon was incorporated, managing editor Matt Goerzen told the committee.

In his 20-year career with the daily newspaper, Goerzen said he’s seen the “media landscape atrophied,” noting 16 community papers have shut down as well as local television station CKX, news radio station CKLQ and the Westman Journal publication.

“Having come from the community newspaper background, I understand the need and what happens to a community when you don’t have one,” Goerzen said.

He cited the Carberry crash as one of the important stories covered by the local newsroom.

“This is not a pleasant part of our job, though I would argue it’s a necessary one.”

Goerzen said he supports a tax credit for local businesses that advertise with qualified Manitoba media companies, and creating a fund that would support hiring journalists to cover underserved communities.

While Goerzen wasn’t able to pinpoint how much the provincial government has spent on advertising with the Sun, he said going over the last month he counted a few ads, including a couple from the Public Utilities Board.

“I see the government’s point for trying to look at social media, because they want to get as much out there as they possibly can. But we buy local, the government needs to shop local, too.”– Brandon Sun managing editor Matt Goerzen

“I see the government’s point for trying to look at social media, because they want to get as much out there as they possibly can. But we buy local, the government needs to shop local, too,” he said.

Gord Gilmour, the publisher of the Manitoba Co-operator and a senior editor for Glacier FarmMedia, a national company headquartered in Manitoba, suggested the government create a grant funding program to support organizations that contribute to the diversity of journalism content in Manitoba.

He said his No. 1 initiative is attracting and retaining talent to rural Manitoba.

“We have found this to be an enormous challenge,” Gilmour said. “There are great people out there, but they may not be trained as journalists, and if they are trained as journalists, most of them are not very deeply imbued with the agriculture sector.”

The answer could be in creating a journalism school, said presenter Murray Oliver, instructor at Assiniboine College’s media and communications program.

The school would be set up like a “teaching hospital,” he said, giving students experience in reporting from Indigenous communities and covering agricultural stories, municipal politics and the “economics of rural life.”

“It means that over that four-year program, students are producing content for the community,” Oliver said.

“Sixty-nine to 70 per cent of Canadians feel that when they read something in the paper, it’s the truth, it’s reliable and that’s what we want to support.”– NDP MLA (St. Boniface) Robert Loiselle

The NDP government organized the committee last fall to look into ways to support local journalism. The goal is to concentrate on rural and northern media and cultural media, including French, Filipino, Punjabi and Chinese language publications.

Three public hearings have already been held in Winnipeg, with an additional hearing planned for Winkler and an online meeting yet to be scheduled for northern communities.

The committee is due to issue its report by the end of October.

It is chaired by NDP MLA Robert Loiselle and also composed of NDP MLA Eric Redhead and Progressive Conservative MLAs Konrad Narth and Greg Nesbitt.

Since 2008, Canada has lost 11 per cent of print media, Loiselle told the Sun before Monday’s hearing.

“That’s a trend that’s alarming,” he said. “We want people to be able to get their information from reliable sources, and print media being the most reliable.

“Sixty-nine to 70 per cent of Canadians feel that when they read something in the paper, it’s the truth, it’s reliable and that’s what we want to support,” Loiselle said.

“So as a government, we’re asking local media across Manitoba if there’s something that we can do to help support local media, and what are the tools that you suggest we could implement to do so.”

— Brandon Sun