Luke Ettinger kicks off our new series on innovation in local news - in conversation with Peterborough's Jeannine Taylor, founder and publisher of kawarthaNOW.com
Jeanine makes a great point about the omission of other platforms such as Twitter and LinkedIn, and Michael Geist’s interview also added in Apple and Microsoft to the list. He also made the brilliant insight that CBC now gets funded twice for the same content!
There’s a real problem brewing in the perception (from point of news consumer) of news bias when this Google funding is distributed (I assume via a Gov. committee of sorts) among the applicants and the distribution is preferentially directed to large corporate media. Big media in Canada will appear to have a vested interest (either perceived or real, doesn’t matter in the eyes of the consumer) in running defense for both government and big Tech. I would call that a credibility risk if ever I heard of one.
Google being a monopoly will likely pass this $100M cost on to advertisers who will then pass it to clients who will then pass it to consumers so why didn’t the Liberals just slap a surcharge on to advertisers in the first place? It has the added advantage of being dispersed across a large number of advertisers so there’s no credibility risk for media due to single point source of funding.
In my opinion independent and SME media should organize under a single umbrella and lobby for themselves. There’s a compelling story given it’s a new generation of enterprises built by locals from all walks of life trying to create a new sector in the economy. ‘Buy Local’ easily transfers to ‘Read Local’.
It would be great if we had a trusted news source like kawarthaNow in my community (a Canadian Prairie city). I rarely read the local news, from either the legacy media news sites or from our local paper, because it is often sensationalistic or biased. Often important issues are not reported objectively. or covered at all. There is a huge need for objective local news which could be met by an enterprising journalist and business person. I would absolutely support an on line local news site like kawarthaNow in my community. Thank you for an informative interview!
Great topic. Thanks. I wonder if anyone has collected a list of all the local news sites in Canada. There must be hundreds of them. This might get more attention from government for these trusted sources and away from the untrusted media conglomerates.
Jeanine makes a great point about the omission of other platforms such as Twitter and LinkedIn, and Michael Geist’s interview also added in Apple and Microsoft to the list. He also made the brilliant insight that CBC now gets funded twice for the same content!
There’s a real problem brewing in the perception (from point of news consumer) of news bias when this Google funding is distributed (I assume via a Gov. committee of sorts) among the applicants and the distribution is preferentially directed to large corporate media. Big media in Canada will appear to have a vested interest (either perceived or real, doesn’t matter in the eyes of the consumer) in running defense for both government and big Tech. I would call that a credibility risk if ever I heard of one.
Google being a monopoly will likely pass this $100M cost on to advertisers who will then pass it to clients who will then pass it to consumers so why didn’t the Liberals just slap a surcharge on to advertisers in the first place? It has the added advantage of being dispersed across a large number of advertisers so there’s no credibility risk for media due to single point source of funding.
In my opinion independent and SME media should organize under a single umbrella and lobby for themselves. There’s a compelling story given it’s a new generation of enterprises built by locals from all walks of life trying to create a new sector in the economy. ‘Buy Local’ easily transfers to ‘Read Local’.
Meta gets zero blame. Google are idiots for paying the blackmail costs.
The blame goes 100% to the Canadian voters electing these dolts.
This is all in the basket of the most terrifying claim: "We are government and we are here to help."
It would be great if we had a trusted news source like kawarthaNow in my community (a Canadian Prairie city). I rarely read the local news, from either the legacy media news sites or from our local paper, because it is often sensationalistic or biased. Often important issues are not reported objectively. or covered at all. There is a huge need for objective local news which could be met by an enterprising journalist and business person. I would absolutely support an on line local news site like kawarthaNow in my community. Thank you for an informative interview!
There is the old saying of "shooting yourself in the foot."
Canadians have upped this to both feet.
Over half of Canadians have voted for representatives that put this into place. Now you are getting it good and hard. Quit complaining.
Great topic. Thanks. I wonder if anyone has collected a list of all the local news sites in Canada. There must be hundreds of them. This might get more attention from government for these trusted sources and away from the untrusted media conglomerates.