Due to the media crisis that Quebec has been experiencing for several years, quality information, particularly local information, is in danger. Our two organizations — the National Federation of Communications and Culture (FNCC-CSN) and the Federation of Chambers of Commerce of Quebec (FCCQ) — make common cause to call on governments and communities to mobilize to reverse the trend .
What crisis are we talking about?
News media are facing financial difficulties linked to significant declines in advertising revenue, largely because advertisers are turning to the web giants’ foreign platforms. Advertising money is thus captured by the latter and no longer finances the maintenance of our media companies. The result is that staff cuts, closures or even bankruptcy of news media too often make headlines.
It is therefore access to rigorous, diversified and local information that is compromised throughout Quebec.
Faced with this crisis, our governments must better support our news media. Last winter, the FNCC launched the “Information, a public good” campaign, which highlights structuring solutions to this ongoing crisis. The FCCQ made recommendations along the same lines with a view to the budgets presented this spring by the two levels of government. They can easily implement several of these solutions.
Money, the sinews of war
Ministries and public bodies spend significant sums on advertising campaigns. In the context of the crisis we are experiencing, they should set an example and support advertising channels that directly contribute to the vitality of our newsrooms.
In addition, private sector advertisers should be able to benefit from incentives to return. So do those who have never bought ads there. A simple incentive? Double the already existing tax deduction for advertising purchases from a news media.
Another solution: the tax credit for news media payroll, created a few years ago, should be extended to radio and television newsrooms. There should be no distinction: all journalistic jobs contribute to the democratic life of the different regions of Quebec and all should therefore benefit from the same tax advantage.
Cities to the rescue of local information
The news media contribute to the influence of businesses in a region, promote the creation of links between a municipality and its residents, and contribute to the vitality of communities. Right now, entire regions are destabilized and on the verge of finding themselves in a local news desert. It is in everyone’s interest to support the common good of local, regional and national information.
This is why we invite Quebec municipalities to adopt the declaration “My city supports local information”, a declaration of principles in which they commit to adopting concrete actions to promote the distribution and influence of their media. territory.
It is imperative that we all mobilize to save our right to information. This concerns us all.