CCPA Monitor Written b?y:? Sonja Macdonald
The state of local news media in Canada is in sharp decline, which has serious implications for local communities and for the larger national dialogue about the democratic future of our country. It also exposes a need to rebalance our local media system across the country, including understanding what role public-service media (like the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, community and non-profit media) could take to tackle local news deprivation.
The statistical analysis of closures and consolidations of local news outlets over the last 16 years shows a stark picture of the failings of privately owned media to deliver local news and information. But it is also important to understand the federal regulatory system that has bolstered that failing system, and only shifted, too late, to try and salvage local news and information.
Despite the dire circumstances, there is an opportunity to re-balance the local media system, in part by giving power back to local communities as well as increasing the role of public and community broadcasting and news production.
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