This is a perfect summary of what it means to run a student newspaper: the world is yours, young and ambitious, ready to navigate the turbulent waters of university news. However, in an era in which my colleagues signing the pages of the Dissident Pigeon and I call it “post-C-18,” it seems almost impossible to get off the ground.
I was aware that, faced with the tyranny of the Web where everyone fights for a few seconds of attention and with heightened political polarization, a mandate within the newspaper of the Faculty of Law of the University of Montreal would be incredible. But since the summer of 2023, with Meta’s response to the Online News Act, all university newspapers have faced the same challenge: survival. Here, survival refers to the ability to maintain their role as an ideological artery for transmitting faculty debates and news. The majority of the income allowing them to exist comes from student contributions. Of course, physically existing does not mean living.
Loss of sponsorships, reduced visibility and influence among the student body, reduced number of columns, increased difficulties in recruiting for positions subject to election: it must be admitted that being blocked from platforms governed by Meta sinks the ship. This hindrance from the technology giant seriously compromises the mission of student newspapers, which is access to information. This is hardly surprising, considering that 70% of 18-34 year-olds get their information online, and that 31% of them changed their consumption method after the blockage.
Sustainability at stake
Without wishing to sound alarmist, we must nevertheless emphasize that the sustainability of university newspapers and student democracy are at stake. Freedom of information, and therefore of dissemination of information, is a corollary to freedom of the press. The right to information in the Quebec Charter protects this principle, as does freedom of expression. In other words, freedom to disseminate is very important in our society, this is undeniable.
Political scientist Robert A. Dahl discusses the relationship between the media and democracy. In his book On Democracyhe mentions that it is unthinkable for a democracy to work without a plethora of reliable and free sources. The media are essential to relay to voters everything they need to make informed political choices and to assert their freedom of expression by going to debate on public platforms.
It is impossible to conceive of the role of student newspapers in any other way. Student democracy is an entity in its own right, with institutions, rules and a need to be protected and strengthened.
Student newspapers not only create future journalists, they create our citizens of tomorrow who are able to inform themselves and express themselves in a sophisticated and nuanced manner, thus fueling a healthy democracy and acting as a barrier to extremes and their rational shortcuts.
It is therefore essential to take care of our student newspapers, especially in these times when access to solid, real and critical information has become even more difficult. By supporting them concretely (either by making a donation as aalumnusby contributing as a columnist, or by foiling Meta’s trap by distributing their articles), I am hopeful that we will allow them to spread their wings and enjoy the wind in their sails again.