Toronto Star 4 front page blank. (Intercepted from the Toronto Star website)
The Canadian Press and Media Association (CPMA) has teamed up with a number of national newspapers to launch the “Disappearing Headlines” campaign, which deliberately left the front page of the paper blank on the 4th in protest of the fact that social media outlets such as Google and Facebook are capturing most of the advertising revenue.
At the bottom of their blank front pages on the 4th, the newspapers wrote: “Imagine what it would be like to have no news here.
Toronto Star CEO John Boynton wrote that this was the result of a “Disappearing Headlines” campaign launched by News Media Canada.
The campaign includes blanking out the front pages of every newspaper in the country and includes an open letter to all MPs calling on Canadian authorities to act quickly to address this pressing problem, the article reads.
Without a reliable and trustworthy press that can inform the public and hold governments accountable for their actions, our democracy and the future of our children will suffer.
Reporting trustworthy, fact-based news does cost a lot of money. Unfortunately, global technology giants such as Google and Facebook refuse to pay a reasonable fee for stories produced by Canadian news media. At the same Time, these tech giants capture more than 80 percent of digital advertising revenue in Canada.
The result has been the closure of local newspapers across Canada and the loss of hundreds of journalists in recent years,” Bowden said.
The article emphasizes that the best solution is to follow Australia’s legislative code, which authorizes newspapers to negotiate a reasonable fee for the use of their published content, and to impose large fines if Google and Facebook do not cooperate, but importantly, this solution does not require new government funding, taxes or other costs.
Canadian Minister of Cultural Assets Steven Guilbeault emailed a statement to Global News on April 4, stating that “news is not free, and never has been.
Our position is clear: Publishers must be paid properly for their work, and we will support them as they provide the information necessary to benefit our democracy and the health and well-being of our communities,” he noted.
Gilbert reiterated the Canadian government’s intention to create a ‘Made in Canada model’ through legislation to create a comprehensive, consistent and fair digital framework for Canadian journalists and digital platforms, with the goal of moving forward with a new law this year.
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