Journalist voices concern to Heritage Committee: Being forced into real jobs

The head of the Canadian Association of journalists seems to think an honest day’s work is below him and his compatriots now that’s the conclusion I come to after watching Brent Jolly’s testimony to the Heritage committee last week I think he might come to the same conclusion um if they don’t know if they

Have a job in April there where what are they going to do are they going to work at Home Hardware uh I don’t think that that is really befitting of you know treating people with professionalism now several Journal past and present testified on both sides of the issue of the federal government

Contaminating media with public dollars to prop up a failing industry that refuses to innovate Beyond its current broken business models the journalist testimonies came as yet another media bailout was announced another nearly $60 million in funding to extend the local journalism Initiative for the next three

Years now that’s on top of the first $600 million the media now receives from the pockets of taxpayers who won’t pay otherwise to consume content they don’t want or like and it’s also on top of another $129 million in subsidies announced late last year a veteran Saskatchewan broadcaster John Gormley

Testified to committee about the death of conventional media and why it’s happening so should Canada’s news sector hold a conference or Forum on the future of the media well why not the more voices and perspectives the better should the government support this forum implies that tax paying Canadians should

Pay yet again for more hand ringing about the media I’m not for this just like I don’t necessarily accept the supposition that the Canadian media is in trouble because it’s underfunded by government the government has nothing to do with this the media is in trouble

Because it did two things it bet on a modernized definition of Journalism that backfired and lost audiences and secondly it whistled past the graveyard as the internet and social media developed the technology to migrate content and revenue away from the media which was entirely predictable given the behavior of large Canadian media

Organizations I’ve recently wondered where would the media be today if the federal government had done nothing no local journalism initiative no journalism labor tax credit enhancements to the periodical fund or even embarking on the online news act does any of this or all the money in the world for that

Matter nudge the media toward Innovation adaptation and change for Generations three clear boundaries existed in journalism there was reportage accurate unbiased neutral factual chronicling of what happened there was editorial commentary featuring opinion perspective the expression of diverse and Divergent opinions and voices and for those media who could afford it there was

Investigative and in-depth work which often revealed wrongdoing forced accountability and ADV ated change the Legacy Media and their wire Services intentionally blurred these distinctions and decided that agenda-based journalism would replace balance factuality and partiality a freedom from ideology and bias and a divestment of personal opinions and agendas with this came a

Laser-like focus on social justice climate change drug use harm reduction intersectionality race colonialism and gender politics and the media became so preoccupied with allyship that they stood up for and defended certain causes rather than scrutinizing and Reporting on them not surprisingly this change in journalism challenged The public’s

Traditionally high level of media trust in part people no longer believed the media was in it for them as neutral observers dedicated to truth and a rational response for news consumers was to vote with their feet and seek alter Alternatives at the same time the internet had developed with astonishing

Pace in scope that by the second decade of the 2000s social media flourished consumer Choice was vast and the Legacy Media struggled for audience advertising revenues migrated and the die was cast so today why does the government bear responsibility for the media’s miscalculation so did Tara Henley who

Has been a voice revealing the inner workings of those subsidized newsrooms through her substa my name is Tara Henley I’m a journalist and author in Toronto and I am the host of the lean out podcast as subscriber supported weekly current affairs show that interviews guests from around the world

Including many journalists I myself have been a journalist for 22 years with experience in newspapers magazines Digital radio and television as well as publishing a current affairs book for the past year one of my central lines of inquiry at lean out has been on the collapse of the media and I have

Interviewed researchers authors historians and professors covered reports journalism panels and forums and have read a large volume of email and comments from the public and have spoken with journalists in both Legacy and Independent Media as well as opinion writers across the political spectrum and media entrepreneurs I am

Currently writing the 2024 Massie essay on the state of the media published in the literary review of Canada this spring and the focus of that essay is on declining Trust in Media um as this committee has already heard the problems facing Canadian media are complex and multi fasted and our newsrooms are under

Enormous pressure we know the collapse of the Canadian media is largely economic the internet has disrupted our industry and the advertising business model has imploded we have also heard from Witnesses at this committee that the industry faces challenges with ownership and consolidation uh we have seen Mass Outlet closures dwindling

Audiences and mass layoffs and by some estimates there’s now just 10 to 12,000 journalists in this country a government intervention in the industry has also presented challenges for some players uh including independent and digital outlets and has resulted in me meta polling out of news in Canada we heard

Powerful testimony on that from media CEO Brandon gonz uh the media is in a profoundly weaken State and there are consequences to this good journalism involves revealing inconvenient facts aing unpopular perspectives and challenging dominant narratives the volatility of our industry risks breeding Conformity and cost uh both in leadership and in our press

Corp which can erode the quality of coverage in the current climate the training for the next generation is also jeopardized as there are less mentors less Outlets particularly less local local news outlets for journalists to train at and an important point is that the economic precarity of Journalism

Means that young people without family financial support are less likely to go into the business and to be able to live in the expensive cities where our media is now concentrated and do internships and poorly paid jobs this reduces the diversity of uh perspectives in our

Newsroom at a time we most need to increase it as an industry we have a duty to insulate ourselves from the power that we are meant to hold to account uh media derives its credibility from its independence from Power particularly government power and maintaining public confidence in that Independence is of Paramount importance

As important as maintaining the independence itself we must contend with the public perception of government funding and un understand it likely erods trust uh unfort the exact moment that the Canadian press most needs to rebuild trust without trust we have no audience without an audience we have no

Revenue without Revenue we have no path forward for the Canadian media and without the media we do not have an informed electorate and a fun and a functioning democracy um so the Canadian media does need to be saved that is very true uh but my message is simple the

Government cannot save us we we have to save ourselves thank you very much but what really struck me was the pretention and smugness of someone who claims to represent working journalists like me that person is Brent Jolly a freelance journalist who is also the head of the Canadian Association of journalists a

Guy who is perpetually tongue tied and absent every time one of my colleagues at Rebel news is assaulted accosted or otherwise prevented from doing their jobs you’ll find the C AJ people begging for government handouts and whining about Mean Tweets instead now being asleep at the switch when independent conservative journalists are violently

Beaten or assaulted I think we’re getting used to that from the official journalist class and their organizations but what really struck me was the CJ’s disdain for normal people who do useful things I first saw the comments reported by the independent journalists at Blacklock so I wanted to acknowledge

Them first because it was their reporting that sent me to watch last week’s Heritage committee blacklock’s story read working in retail is not befitting journalists who face layoffs without taxpayers Aid says the president of the Canadian Association of journalists he made the remark while successfully appealing for a renewal of

A 100% wage subsidy for employees in select newsrooms so I went to see Jolly’s remarks about the horrors of working a productive private sector job for myself and he did indeed say the quiet part out loud take a look I worry about what kind of news deserts would

Look like uh right now without the lji um I there are so many small news organizations right now uh who are hoping and praying and waiting for some acknowledgement and understanding about what’s going to happen with this program um there are hundreds of journalists who have moved to places

Like Churchill Manitoba or you know the Paw because they had a job there um if they don’t know if they have a job in April they where what are they going to do are they going to work at Home Hardware uh I don’t think that that is really befitting of you know treating

People with professionalism I think it’s about time we decided you know is this program going to continue uh I hope it does and I hope we hear something from officials pretty shortly about where it’s going to go because uh if we don’t have it um the information deserts are are going to be

Cataclysmic are they going to work at Home Hardware I don’t think that is really befitting of treating people with professionalism this soft-handed subsidy junking pleads well I should hope the unemployed and layoff journalists don’t work at Home Hardware because when I have a question about a home repair

Project I want advice from a useful person with real life skills an employable person who actually knows what he’s talking about those are the people who work at my local Home Hardware which is owned by a local entrepreneur who operates in the private sector free of government handouts

Selling people things they both want and need employing knowledgeable and useful staff you know so completely the opposite of modern Canadian mainstream media journalism boy wasn’t this guy’s remarks revelatory though about what he thinks about people his social class you know the builders the makers The Growers

Of the world it would be an insult for him to join their ranks oh but he’s more than happy to take their hard-earned money to keep his job for Rebel news I’m Sheila gun Reed unlike Brent jolly and his friends at the Canadian Association of journalists Rebel news and our

Journalists are fundamentally and morally imposed to taking government money but because of that and our independence we rely on the support of you at home if you would like to donate to keep us outworking in the field please go to Rebel field reports.com

| Head of the Canadian Association of Journalists, Brent Jolly, explained the need for more journalism subsidies. ‘Are they going to work at Home Hardware? I don’t think that is really befitting of treating people with professionalism,’ he stated.
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