Narcity Media made its grand return to Facebook and Instagram this week, a year after Meta blocked Canadian news, an “upsetting” announcement for news organizations whose content is still banned from those platforms.
“We’re back on Meta, see you there,” Chuck Lapointe, founder of Narcity Media, said in a LinkedIn post Friday.
However, according to Éric-Pierre Champagne, president of the Professional Federation of Journalists of Quebec (FPJQ) and journalist at The Pressthe group’s return to Facebook and Instagram is an “insult” to Canadian media outlets that have been blocked there for a year. “It’s a complete farce,” he said.
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The president of the Professional Federation of Journalists of Quebec (FPJQ), Éric-Pierre Champagne
Because media like MTL Blog and Narcity don’t only publish original content.
This kind of site takes journalistic work published in other media and revamps it to put it forward.
Laurence Grondin-Robillard, associate professor specializing in social media at UQAM
“That’s why today’s news can be upsetting,” the researcher continues.
According to Éric-Pierre Champagne, Narcity and MTL Blog will now gain visibility on Meta platforms by publishing content inspired in part by the work of other journalists.
“It’s not illegal, but it’s certainly immoral to reprint news published elsewhere. There are journalists who work hard for that,” he says.
Deadlock
Narcity Media had been trying for “several years” to obtain the designation of qualified Canadian journalism organization (QCJO), explained Chuck Lapointe.
The group, which publishes content on culture and entertainment through its media outlets Narcity and MTL Blog, was finally denied in late July. The federal government reportedly determined that the group did not produce enough original news content to qualify as an OJCQ.
So we said to ourselves, if the government doesn’t consider us a journalistic organization, why should Meta?
Chuck Lapointe, founder of Narcity Media
A week later, the MTL Blog and Narcity pages were active again on Facebook and Instagram, the group’s founder said.
“I hope that Narcity Media’s return to Meta will trigger a reevaluation of the Online News Act “, added Chuck Lapointe, who is asking that the media have the option to “opt out [de la loi] if they don’t see the financial benefits of participating.”
Éric-Pierre Champagne is calling on the federal government to establish more radical measures to get Canadian media out of this impasse. “We’re going to have to put in place stricter regulations for these giants who only have one rule in mind: money.”