The publisher who pushed the feds for newspaper bailout cash received more than $6 million in federal help in 2019, part of a $595 million package the Liberals doled out, says Blacklock’s Reporter..The taxpayers’ cash was equivalent to more than half of net income for FP Newspapers Inc., publisher of the Winnipeg Free Press and Brandon Sun..“Despite the fact the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic remains unpredictable, we continue to identify and undertake cost reduction initiatives in an effort to address the underlying revenue declines in the legacy print business,” managers wrote in Financial Statements..Bob Cox, publisher of the Free Press, successfully lobbied for a $595 million media bailout for all Canadian dailies two years ago as chair of News Media Canada, a publishers’ trade group..“These measures have been called a bailout by some,” Cox said in 2019 testimony at the Commons finance committee..“I would suggest this crowd knows very little about the business of operating a newspaper.”.FP Newspapers received $5,382,999 in pandemic wage subsidies last year and $822,000 in media payroll rebates under the Income Tax Act. The federal grants totaling $6,204,000 were the equivalent of 54% of the company’s net income for the year, $11.4 million..Cox earlier assured MPs subsidies must be temporary..“I don’t really like the idea of a long-term subsidy for newspapers that becomes permanent,” he said..“The program itself is envisioned to be for five years and I felt that was an appropriate time. Of course there will be newspapers that fail, and you can’t give it to them forever.”.Records show the Free Press and partner newspapers last year saw an 8% decline in digital ad revenue and a 27% decline in print advertising. The Free Press does not disclose circulation figures but has acknowledged in public statements that readership is down 14% since 2016..Management in Financial Statements blamed the daily’s troubles on the pandemic though Cox in a confidential 2018 letter to the Department of Heritage said the newspaper faced closure prior to COVID-19..“Even well-informed people do not realize what is at stake,” wrote Cox, who said the pre-pandemic Free Press faced “the most serious crisis we have faced in our history” since it was first published in 1872..The Western Standard does not accept any cash grants from any level of government..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.,dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com,.Twitter.com/nobby7694
The publisher who pushed the feds for newspaper bailout cash received more than $6 million in federal help in 2019, part of a $595 million package the Liberals doled out, says Blacklock’s Reporter..The taxpayers’ cash was equivalent to more than half of net income for FP Newspapers Inc., publisher of the Winnipeg Free Press and Brandon Sun..“Despite the fact the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic remains unpredictable, we continue to identify and undertake cost reduction initiatives in an effort to address the underlying revenue declines in the legacy print business,” managers wrote in Financial Statements..Bob Cox, publisher of the Free Press, successfully lobbied for a $595 million media bailout for all Canadian dailies two years ago as chair of News Media Canada, a publishers’ trade group..“These measures have been called a bailout by some,” Cox said in 2019 testimony at the Commons finance committee..“I would suggest this crowd knows very little about the business of operating a newspaper.”.FP Newspapers received $5,382,999 in pandemic wage subsidies last year and $822,000 in media payroll rebates under the Income Tax Act. The federal grants totaling $6,204,000 were the equivalent of 54% of the company’s net income for the year, $11.4 million..Cox earlier assured MPs subsidies must be temporary..“I don’t really like the idea of a long-term subsidy for newspapers that becomes permanent,” he said..“The program itself is envisioned to be for five years and I felt that was an appropriate time. Of course there will be newspapers that fail, and you can’t give it to them forever.”.Records show the Free Press and partner newspapers last year saw an 8% decline in digital ad revenue and a 27% decline in print advertising. The Free Press does not disclose circulation figures but has acknowledged in public statements that readership is down 14% since 2016..Management in Financial Statements blamed the daily’s troubles on the pandemic though Cox in a confidential 2018 letter to the Department of Heritage said the newspaper faced closure prior to COVID-19..“Even well-informed people do not realize what is at stake,” wrote Cox, who said the pre-pandemic Free Press faced “the most serious crisis we have faced in our history” since it was first published in 1872..The Western Standard does not accept any cash grants from any level of government..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.,dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com,.Twitter.com/nobby7694
