Shazia Nazir, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Milton Reporter
A new survey has found out that as many as 90% Canadians think it is important that local media outlets survive and that global giants of the web industry should share revenue with Canadian media outlets.
The survey was conducted by Pollara Strategic Insights for News Media Canada, an advocacy group that represents a number of media outlets across the country.
Up to 1500 Canadians participated in this survey.
As many as 79 percent of Canadians opined in favor of Canadian outlets receiving a share in the profits of big internet companies.
“Canadians value their local news outlets, and they believe web giants should have to share some of their revenue with Canadian media outlets,” said Paul Deegan, president and chief executive officer of News Media Canada.
It was found that 80 percent Canadians, regardless of their political affiliations, believe that parliament should pass a law which will allow smaller outlets to negotiate collectively with web giants.
“There is majority support for forcing web giants to share revenues with Canadian media outlets among survey respondents in both cities and rural communities, among both young and old, and across partisan lines.” said Dan Arnold, Chief Strategy Officer at Pollara. “This means that Canadians who consume their news in many different ways can all come together and agree on the importance of this issue.”
Confirming these sentiments, Hari Singh, a Milton resident and an avid reader of local newspapers, said that the government should work to empower the local news outlets. “These are vital for they provide us with information of most relevance to us, which otherwise gets least importance in national media.”
Another reader, Jenna, said that she would always prefer her local newspapers over national papers and wanted to see them flourishing. “These newspapers tell me what is going to affect me in what manner, hence they are of far more importance for me”, she said.
