The federal government announced long-awaited support on March 25 for media organizations suffering significant losses of revenue, after news media organizations in Atlantic Canada and Quebec joined the long list of businesses laying off employees across Canada.
Winnipeg Free Press Publisher Bob Cox, however, says the announcement contains “absolutely no new support whatsoever” for journalism.
In an interview with The Hill Times, Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault (Laurier-Sainte-Marie, Que.) said he has personally spoken with a number of representatives from media groups and trade unions representing journalists, and the government was doing “everything we can to help them make it through this crisis.”
“We are working on additional measures as we speak, and we have been for the last two weeks,” said Mr. Guilbeault. “As you can imagine, there are crises coming left, right and center from all sectors of Canadian society and the Canadian economy. So the government is trying to adopt measures.”
The government is also launching a $30-million public health advertising campaign that will be deployed in media “in every corner of the country” and in 13 or 14 different languages, according to Mr. Guilbeault.
“The vast majority of that $30-million would go to Canadian media,” said Mr. Guilbeault. “We will reserve some money for online platforms—of course if someone goes online and does some research on Google, we want them to be able to have access to information that is relevant to them, in terms of public health in their locality or region, so we will be putting some money for that campaign on those platforms, but the vast majority of that money will be for Canadian media,” said Mr. Guilbeault.
Mr. Cox was also the chair of the Journalism and Written Media Independent Panel of Experts, which provided recommendations to the government for the implementation of tax measures in support of Canadian news media last year.
He blasted the government in an interview with The Hill Times on Thursday. When asked for his reaction to the government’s announcement, Mr. Cox called it “absolute, utter garbage” and said both Minister Guilbeault and the prime minister were lying.
“I have never seen such blatant lying—stand in front of a bloody nation in front of a microphone, thank journalists, say you’re going to support them and then do nothing,” said Mr. Cox. “I’m astonished that they’ve done this. They have done nothing. There is absolutely no new support whatsoever for journalism that was announced yesterday. [Minister] Guilbeault is lying, there was no acceleration of any program.”
Winnipeg Free Press publisher Bob Cox says ‘publishers across this country are facing ruin.’ Photograph courtesy of Twitter
Mr. Guilbeault announced that the government had finished assembling a panel responsible for advising the government on which journalism organizations should benefit from a controversial $595-million media bailout fund, in the form of tax credits, that was first announced last year.
A previous panel struck by the government recommended that “in the interests of moving quickly,” the tax credits be implemented and administered directly by the CRA. Panel members also recommended that the government appoint an advisory body made up of faculty from journalism schools across Canada, who would be turned to when the CRA has questions about whether an application meets the journalistic criteria of the program.
That panel has now been appointed, according to the government, and will be tasked with helping to accelerate the deployment of monetary relief.
The government will be speeding up its processing of the applications for tax credits, said Mr. Guilbeault, responding to applicants in a number of weeks, instead of in the fall as initially planned for new applicants.
“We are accelerating the deployment of monetary resources for organizations that have applied, and those include some media organizations that will be receiving money in the coming weeks as opposed to the coming months,” said Mr. Guilbeault. “We understand that in many cases, liquidity is an issue, so we are trying to accelerate the deployment of our program for the year 2020 and 2021.”
“We understand how dire the situation and we are working day and night, seven days a week to find solutions and get them out the door as quickly as possible,” said Mr. Guilbeault.
‘These are obviously very extraordinary circumstances,’ says Liberal MP Francesco Sorbara
Liberal MP Francesco Sorbara (Vaughan Woodbridge, Ont.), who is parliamentary secretary for Minister of NationalRevenue Diane Lebouthillier (Gaspésie-Les Îles-De-La-Madeleine, Que.), told The Hill Times that the announcement of the panel on March 25 was the “final step” in the process to be able to designate organizations as Qualified Canadian Journalism Organizations.
Liberal MP Francesco Sorbara, parliamentary secretary for Minister of National Revenue Diane Lebouthillier, says the government remains ‘steadfast in supporting Canadian journalism.’ The Hill Times photograph by Sam Garcia
The panel is composed of current and retired faculty members from post-secondary journalism schools across Canada, according to Heritage Canada’s press release. The members are chairperson Colette Brin, co-chair Kim Kierans, Margo Goodhand, Pierre-Paul Noreau and Karim H. Karim.
“These are obviously very extraordinary circumstances,” said Mr. Sorbara. “And what we would need to do on our side with this last step is to get these individuals trained. And as you can imagine, that is presenting very unique circumstances in order to do that.”
“Usually you would want these individuals to probably travel to Ottawa and meet for hours, go through all the details and so forth. But the current conditions are proving to be very unique, very challenging. So it’s very difficult to give a specific date of when all these dominoes can come into place,” said Mr. Sorbara.
“We remain steadfast in supporting Canadian journalism, we’ve outlined and implemented and are implementing a program that is there to support Canadian journalism. We were very happy to see the final step in the process being the appointing of the panel members. And we’re very happy to see this. But obviously, you know, due to these current very extraordinary, unique circumstances, there’s going to be some fluidity and with how we the last part is determined and how the panel members can receive the training that they need in order to execute and operate the program,” said Mr. Sorbara.
Mr. Cox said that programs that the government announced to provide help for journalism, “which they announced 16 months ago in November of 2018,” have not paid out a single dollar to any news outlet in the country.
“And they won’t, because they’re riddled with problems,” said Mr. Cox. “Legislation is written incorrectly. Most newspaper companies actually don’t qualify under the way the legislation was written and they have not promised to change that to try and accelerate payments.”
Mr. Cox said Mr. Guilbeault has not consulted him or asked for his comments. Mr. Guilbeault was not available for a follow-up interview following The Hill Times’ interview with Mr. Cox.
“He’s scared, because I know how these things work and I know the truth. And he doesn’t want to confront anybody who knows the truth and knows actually how these programs work,” said Mr. Cox. “All he wants is an announcement that tries to make his own government look good. And it doesn’t look good. It looks bad, bad, bad.”
“I understand that there are a lot of businesses in exactly the same boat I’m in, they’re facing ruin. Publishers across this country are facing ruin. So are lots of businesses, I realized that there is an absolute avalanche of need out there right now. And I’m not suggesting that we should somehow be singled out or that we should somehow be given special treatment, but I don’t expect to be insulted by a government that promised help 16 months ago and never delivered,” said Mr. Cox.
Nearly 40 per cent of SaltWire Network staff laid off on March 24
Mark Lever, president and CEO of SaltWire Network, told The Hill Times that his first reaction to the government’s announcement was “disappointment.”
SaltWire laid off nearly 40 per cent of their staff on March 24, according to a letter to their readers published that day. The production of all weekly publications (both free and paid-for) in Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia will be suspended for the next 12 weeks, but will continue to produce four dailies, which will include The Chronicle Herald, the Cape Breton Post, The Guardian and The Telegram, according to the letter. SaltWire will also continue to provide flyer distribution throughout this period and The Guardian and The Journal Pioneer will be combined on a temporary 12-week basis—with Journal Pioneer subscribers receiving The Guardian on a daily basis.
“It’s money that was promised to us in in [2018] for the [2019] fiscal year that we were all hoping to really use that money as investments to maintain our newsrooms in in 2019,” said Mr. Lever.
Mark Lever, president and CEO of SaltWire Network, says his first reaction to the government’s announcement for media outlets was ‘disappointment.’ Photograph courtesy of Twitter
“My reaction more broadly is the lacking support for, for the economy and for business in Canada, beyond what was just offered the media in terms of media solutions,” said Mr. Lever.
Mr. Lever said his organization is incredibly reliant on print advertising and door-to-door insert distribution business, which is all being challenged.
“And I get that, and that’s why I think a broader economic aid package focused on businesses, I’ve been incredibly supportive [of]. That, yes, the first thing’s first, like health and safety, and then financial safety nets for individuals affected, but it’s time now for the Government of Canada to support businesses so there’s an economy to come back to,” said Mr. Lever. “If you compare it on a per GDP basis with what the Americans just passed yesterday. We’re 10 times behind in real dollars.”
John Hinds, president and CEO of News Media Canada, told The Hill Times that his organization’s “overwhelming response” to the government’s announcement was “disappointing.”
“There was nothing new. Everything that they announced was a rehash of announcements from 2018. And it was helpful in 2018 when there were challenges there, but…it certainly doesn’t respond to the reality of the current crisis.”
“We need to get money into the hands of publishers, or they’re going to close the doors,” said Mr. Hinds. “This is a business that does not have vast cash reserves to sustain a slowdown of this magnitude for very long. Advertising remains our core pillar of revenue [and] is down over 60 per cent and it doesn’t look like it’s going to come back next week, and nobody has any cash.”
“So if people are going to continue to actually run their business, there’s going to have to be some cash inflow in there,” said Mr. Hinds. “Obviously, the advertising campaign helps with that, it puts money into publishers’ pockets and allows them to continue to run for a while.”
“The tax credit is a mechanism that we’ve supported for a long time,” said Mr. Hinds. “The trouble … is that it was announced in November of 2018, and still not one dollar has flowed from it.”
“So they appoint the panel yesterday, but they still haven’t addressed the issues around qualification for the QCJO, because as it stands, because of legislative problems, 75 per cent of Canadian media isn’t eligible for the tax credit.”
When asked what task is ahead of the panel, Mr. Hinds said he hopes it’s “efficient.”
“It’s a fantastic panel—they are probably the best group that you could ever pick to do this, because they represent the best of Canadian journalism media,” said Mr. Hinds. “Kudos to the government on the panel, it’s just really, really late.”
“The problem with that panel is, until they get the legislation—if it goes forward now, and they have to reject 75 per cent of the claimants, that’s not going to look great. And part of it is, they have to establish their procedures, and I have faith they’re going to do this, but they’re going to need support from CRA and from finance to get up there and get this moving.”
“It strikes me that in the current climate, it’s kind of hard to onboard panels and get them up to speed and work collaboratively with CRA officials,” said Mr. Hinds.
Mike Lapointe joined the The Hill Times in June 2019 and covers the federal public service, deputy ministers, the Privy Council Office, public service unions, the Phoenix pay system, the machinery of government, and the Parliament Hill media. Follow – mlapointe@hilltimes.com
By Justin Vézina At the end of its spectacular 2023-2024 season, the Laval Rocket held its end-of-season media availability to bring the campaign to a close. Ten players, plus head coach Jean-François Houle, appeared before the media. For those who wish to view all the press conferences, they are presented below. However, for those who […]
The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The Hill
It was July 2018, and Michael Avenatti was considering a presidential run. Anyone can consider running for president, I suppose. It’s just that when the lawyer for Stormy Daniels and cable news mainstay did it, important people — theoretically important, at least — in the press took it seriously.
CNN’s Jim Scuitto had Avenatti on to talk about it, and make a bit of a campaign pitch for himself, on July 4. The next day, CNN’s editor-at-large Chris Cillizza, one of the more prominent writers for the website back then, published a piece of analysis with the headline “President Michael Avenatti? Never say never!”
And sure, why not. Avenatti was riding high at the time. A couple months earlier, he was being pitched, according to the New York Times, for a “Crossfire”-like show with Anthony Scaramucci, the rapidly-defenestrated former Trump communications director, by mega-agent Jay Sures, who represents top CNN talent like Jake Tapper and Anderson Cooper. Maybe that’s why Avenatti became so ubiquitous on the network to begin with — embarrassingly so, in retrospect.
But if we look back to April, almost exactly six years ago, that’s when Avenatti truly burst onto the national scene. On April 9, 2018, the FBI raided the office of Michael Cohen, the long-time “fixer” and business associate of then-President Donald Trump. The next day, Avenatti was on Cooper’s CNN show to break it all down — from Stormy Daniels, his porn actress client, to Karen McDougal, the former Playboy playmate, to Cohen himself. It was Avenatti’s chance to craft the narrative for the media, and the media was happy to oblige.
The whole ordeal was portrayed a couple weeks later in a cringe-inducing “Saturday Night Live” cold open, with Ben Stiller playing Cohen, Jimmy Fallon playing Jared Kushner, and Stormy Daniels playing herself. (She struggled to nail the “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!” line at the end.)
It’s worth reflecting this week on this bizarre 2018 moment, as it serves as the prelude to the first (and possibly only) trial of Trump in 2024. The trial that officially began on Monday isn’t about “insurrection” or “espionage” or classified documents or RICO. Oh no. It’s this reality TV, trashy tabloid junk about porn stars and Playmates — stuff that belongs more in the National Enquirer than the National Broadcasting Company.
Which is ironic, of course, because the first witness in the case was David Pecker, the former executive in charge of the National Enquirer. (It’s also ironic that Avenatti is now firmly on Team Trump, saying he’d be happy to testify for the defense, although of course he’s also currently in federal prison for wire fraud and tax fraud, so…)
It’s been more than six years since that initial FBI raid, and the original Avenatti media sin. But buckle up, here we go. We’re getting to hear about the way Trump teamed up with the National Enquirer in an effort to boost his 2016 campaign. A bit like how most of the establishment press today is teaming up with the Biden campaign to stop Trump in this cycle.
You know that story about Ted Cruz’s father potentially being involved in the murder of JFK? Totally made up, to help Trump in the primary! None of this is surprising, to any discerning news consumer. But it does allow the media to get on their proverbial high horse over “checkbook journalism” — as if the crusty old legacy press hasn’t been doing a version of it for decades, when ABC or NBC wants to secure a big “get” on their morning show. But the journalistic ethics of the National Enquirer are a red herring — a distraction from the substance of the trial.
After Pecker, we’ll get Cohen, and Daniels, and McDougal as witnesses. Avenatti, at least it seems for now, will stay in prison, and not get to return to the limelight.
This trial is a circus. But the media made their choice way back in 2018. And now they too are on trial.
To get meta for a minute, when I decide to devote my weekly column to a topic, I’m not only deciding the topic to cover, but making a decision about what not to cover as well. On a far larger and more consequential scale, every single news organization makes choices every day about what to focus on, how to cover it and what gets left on the cutting room floor.
Back during the Trump years, the media spent an inordinate amount of time dissecting every last detail of this tabloid journalism fodder we’re now seeing play out in a New York City courtroom — which is meaningless to the lives of nearly every American. The trial is the culmination of the inconsequential work that ate up so many hours of cable news, and occupied so much space in the most powerful media outlets in America. So much time and energy and resources that could have been devoted to literally any other story, including many that directly relate to Donald Trump. And yet now, here we are.
This trial has to matter for the American press. If it doesn’t, it invalidates their entire existence during 2018. But if the public tunes out — and, can you even imagine if a jury in New York City actually finds Trump not guilty at the end of this thing — well, it’s as much an indictment of the Trump-obsessed Acela media as it is of the system that brought these bizarre charges and salacious case in the first place.
Steve Krakauer, a NewsNation contributor, is the author of “Uncovered: How the Media Got Cozy with Power, Abandoned Its Principles, and Lost the People” and editor and host of the Fourth Watch newsletter and podcast.
