A Case for Expanding the CBC
With so many journalists losing their jobs, the Canadian government must step up for the industry.
By Simon Topp
A few months ago, I wrote a piece in The Bell discussing my anxieties about Canadian democracy. For democracy to work, I argued that a robust local media that can keep voters informed and engaged in their local community was necessary. As things stand, this is no longer possible in Canada. The interconnected nature of global communication technologies, fueled by the digital revolution, has radically changed our media landscape, and has led to the collapse of Canada-focused media. In my opinion, the best thing that can be done to fix that is to expand the role of the CBC.
Before we get to that though, lets back up a little and provide some context. The digital revolution, brought on by the internet, has created a new economic system for the media. Because so much information is available online for free, news sources can no longer expect to charge subscription fees at anywhere near the scale they could before. This has undermined the financial base of local news that is not state subsidised or supported by advertisers.
Unfortunately, Canadian media has not found a good way to adapt to the economics of modern information sharing. The flagships of private news in Canada, the Globe and Mail, National Post, Toronto Star etc. have shrunk, with entire sections of coverage gone and journalist positions cut. Smaller local papers — vital to keeping the electorate informed on local issues — have dramatically shrunk in number. This has also allowed a worrying trend of media consolidation, a trend that has been observed around the world. As news companies fail, they are bought up by large media conglomerates, such as Postmedia and Torstar, which together control a significantly larger chunk of the Canadian News market. These conglomerates often close local papers they have purchased to remove them as a competitor or fire all staff working there and use the shell to spread identical stories that are repeated across their network. As a result, the Canadian news industry has shed over ten thousand jobs over the past five years, and a majority of Canadian municipalities do not have a local news source. Just in January, it was announced that Postmedia will lay off 11 percent of its editorial staff. These conglomerates are also not above wielding a level of editorial control over the outlets they own, something which threatens journalistic independence in Canada.
It is therefore becoming clear that Canada needs to develop more of a strategy to maintain Canadian media as a viable information source. This strategy should include expanding the scope of the CBC. The private market is clearly creating one heck of a set of negative externalities, so it has become the duty of the public sector to step up and fill the vacuum.
You might ask, why not just keep doing what we are currently doing, and subsidise the news corps? After all, this is a cheaper method of preserving the news than to do it all through the CBC, as many costs will remain covered by the income of the news companies. Additionally, this preserves the infrastructure and institutional memory that has been built up by these companies, many of whom have been in the news business for over a century. However, there is no guarantee that permanently subsidised news companies will produce the kind of news this policy is meant to maintain. The economics of the modern information market will continue to affect their behaviour in ways this policy is trying to correct, namely that sensationalism will continue to be encouraged, as will job cuts. There is also no guarantee that these companies will not take the subsidies, pay their executives large bonuses, and continue to scale down their operations anyway. We therefore need to find a way to maintain that institutional memory and preserve the positive externalities of the news media without permitting or incentivising poor behaviour.
An expanded CBC presents an opportunity to do these things. It could extend quality coverage to underserved communities. It could also be expanded to cover other languages that are widely spoken in Canada, such as Mandarin, Cantonese, Punjabi, Portuguese, Spanish, or Arabic. Additionally, because the CBC does not need to worry about competition due to its public funding, it could play a much more collaborative role with private news sources by acting as a platform through which they could reach a wider audience and promote their companies. This private-public partnership would allow quality news to be consistently available across the country and provide private news companies with a partner, not a competitor. The government could also provide an initial investment to private news start-ups to encourage their return to underserved communities. Finally, an expanded CBC could have the ability to improve its content enough so that people would choose to consume it instead of the international media companies.
Now, I’m aware of the challenges this would present. One challenge is, as it is for all things, cost. The BBC, which fills a similar role in the UK as what I’m recommending, has a budget of over a billion pounds. It would therefore cost a significant amount of money to properly fund a news organisation that would be capable of covering local news in any detail. Additionally, the government must be careful not to exert any kind of editorial control over an expanded CBC outside of preventing blatant misinformation. This is due to the question of journalistic independence. Can the media truly act as a neutral source of information if it is run by the state? What is the difference between a state-run source of propaganda and a public broadcaster? An expanded, and very public, role for the CRTC could answer these questions, as the CRTC could fill the role of an arms length body that regulates CBC.
The Canadian government cannot sit by and let the Canadian media fall apart. It should therefore make further investments in the CBC so that it can fill the gap. To be clear, I am not saying that the CBC in its current form is a perfect institution. There are issues surrounding what gets covered, the tone of the coverage, and who does the covering. However, a strong, expansive public broadcaster just might be a cornerstone of a flourishing democracy that can weather the storm of our increasingly turbulent times. If this is done, then there is not only an opportunity for local journalism in Canada to not only survive, but to thrive.
Simon Topp is a Masters of Public Policy Candidate at the Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill University. He has an interest in democratic renewal and has experience in Canadian politics as a candidate and staffer.