These days, more than sixty community radio stations and a few independent private stations across the country come together for Radio Days in Quebec. On the theme “The era of exponential transformation”, this event is an opportunity for managers to exchange, find solutions, innovate, collaborate, thanks to a range of experts from the country and elsewhere in the world. However, finding solutions is becoming less and less of a choice, and more and more of an urgent necessity for us to do our duty to our audience. In the midst of a media crisis, there is certainly concern, but above all questions regarding the political class.
For several years, successive governments did not always realize the importance of advertising investments or the mechanics of these purchases. In Quebec, the government of Jacques Parizeau, in February 1995, promised to invest 4% annually in Quebec community media. Nearly 30 years later, barring an exception or two such as the pandemic period, this sum has not been reached.
Within the federal government, there is no such measure, and Canadians have found themselves with advertising budgets benefiting foreign companies, which causes an outflow of capital instead of development of our communities .
The Trudeau government seems powerless, without any real plan or knowledge of the field. Bill C-18 is a good example. The principle underlying this law is noble, but the naivety of believing that such a project would quickly and concretely be implemented demonstrates a total disconnection from the field. Yes, there were consultations, but the Trudeau government’s idea visibly lacked practical sense and a vision of the consequences.
While remaining united with the principle behind C-18, we note that the government had not thought about the consequences that local media can have on the population, who often need information quickly, in situations emergencies such as floods or forest fires. We applauded the federal government and some provinces, as well as some municipalities, for their decision to stop investing in Meta, but there has been a lack of planning for what comes next.
Every day, community radio stations across the country receive comments from their listeners and readers asking why the media is no longer on Facebook and Instagram. The stations broadcast messages on the air, but the fact that they have to continually explain C-18 demonstrates the weakness of the plan.
Our two associations, which represent 65 radio stations across the country, are demanding more than ever that an awareness campaign among the population be put in place. This is a short-term solution, but it makes “common sense” given the government’s decision to move forward. The idea of imposing a minimum investment in local media on the part of the government and its elected officials should follow.
Our associations have also had conversations with MPs who themselves doubt their actions. “We may have acted too quickly,” some tell us. As proof, seeing certain political parties and certain elected officials continue to invest money and time in Meta platforms, we see that reflexes persist. Some elected officials still prefer to feed Facebook to communicating with their local media, which, however, represent the public interest.
In recent years, community radio stations have become major producers of local news, both on the radio and on the Web. Meta’s platforms made content more accessible, especially in times of climate emergency.
On the eve of the execution of Google’s threat to imitate Meta, it is high time for the federal government to consider actions and means to take. Every compression within a media hides human dramas. The situation at TVA has a story for each individual who will lose their job and an economic effect in each of the affected regions.
To avoid a rapid massacre of jobs in the field of information, instead of an exponential transformation, it is high time that levels of government and elected officials act to develop their local media and local democracy. A code of ethics in communication for elected officials would greatly help to improve practices and even make information more accessible.
Our French-speaking communities outside Quebec and communities across Quebec want to continue to get along and have access to local information. Let’s all be consistent, take the necessary actions.