Election journalism fund managers withhold details on $500K in grants to news outlets

Administrators of a $500,000 election journalism fund are refusing to release details on how much each media outlet received or the reasoning behind funding decisions, despite public financing and growing scrutiny of press subsidies.

Blacklock's Reporter says the fund, created to “support election focused journalism,” was distributed through the Michener Foundation with backing from the Rideau Hall Foundation and other federally supported groups.

While the foundation published a list of participating outlets, it declined to say which applicants were approved or rejected, or how much each received from the fund that offered up to $35,000 per grant.

Among known recipients is The Logic, a Toronto-based business news site led by publisher David Skok, who previously criticized government media subsidies as harmful to journalistic integrity.

In past columns, Skok called such bailouts “an insult to the audience” and warned they would interfere with editorial independence.

“The policy is an insult to the audience,” he wrote in a 2019 commentary, arguing subsidies risk distorting newsroom priorities.

Despite this stance, The Logic later spent heavily from public sources, including more than $1.48 million in federal support since 2020.

That included $817,051 in grants from the Department of Canadian Heritage, $664,440 in sole-sourced contracts from Public Works for “communications outreach,” and unknown sums from the Canada Revenue Agency’s $595 million media bailout program, which offers annual payroll rebates of up to $29,750 per newsroom employee.

In a 2018 editorial, Skok wrote, “I founded The Logic on the belief that journalistic independence comes from financial independence,” and stated he did not believe government intervention was needed.

He warned that Ottawa’s subsidies could “get into the minds of editors to dictate what areas of coverage are deemed more important than others.”

Other grant recipients under the Election 2025 Fund include Canadaland Inc., La Converse, The Review, Nunatsiaq News, Haida Gwaii News, Medicine Hat News, Gabriola Sounder Media, Ricochet Media, and dozens of other small or independent outlets across the country.

Freelance journalist Justin Ling and various community publications also made the list.

Despite multiple outlets publicly disclosing they received grants, the Michener Foundation declined to say whether the full $500,000 was spent or to offer any transparency into the selection criteria or evaluation process.