A request by the Canadian Media Guild for more government funding for its diversity programs and mis/disinformation campaigns was refuted by Conservatives, per Blacklock’s Reporter.. “The public lost faith and confidence in the media,” Conservative MP Kevin Waugh told the president of the Guild, a union representing more 6,000 employees at CBC, the Canadian Press, Reuters and more. The Canadian Media Guild submitted to the House of Commons Heritage Committee it needs more cashflow from Ottawa. The money would go toward preventing “disinformation and misinformation” and to “ensure diversity” in broadcasting, the Commons committee heard Wednesday. Guild president Annick Forest testified Parliament should “explore public funding mechanisms” for private media in addition to current subsidies.“We believe by fortifying the resilience of Canadian media against threats of disinformation and misinformation we can safeguard the credibility of our democratic institutions,” said Forest. “We have to ensure media diversity across Canada and any way the government can support that, being creative in the ways to make sure different media organizations have mandates to serve Canadians across the country, it is something we have to look at,” Forest continued. “As a cornerstone of our democracy Canadian media play a crucial role in informing, engaging and empowering citizens,” said Forest. “But this mission can only be realized with a robust and resilient workforce. Media workers are the backbone of our information ecosystem tirelessly researching, reporting and disseminating news and stories that shape public discourse.”The Guild’s submission was contradicted by former CTV broadcaster Waugh, who said Canadians have lost all trust in subsidized newsrooms.“There is no trust in media today,” said Waugh. “I am going to be honest. I was a broadcaster for over four decades. It is lost.”“The public lost faith and confidence in the media,” said Waugh. “I don’t know if it will ever come back, but once you lose it people go elsewhere for their information.”In 2019, the Trudeau Liberals approved a $595 million media bailout including annual payroll rebates of up to $13,750 per newsroom employee, and in November doubled annual rebates to a maximum $29,750 at an additional $129 million.A CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications) report on February 7 conducted by in-house Public Opinion Research Tracker found only a third of Canadians rate news media trustworthy and balanced after five years of federal subsidies. “Canadians’ impressions of the quality, variety and depth of content as well as trust in media are relatively weak,” said the report. “Fewer agree that they trust the information provided by news media in Canada (36%), that the types of news programming offers a variety of perspectives (36%) and that they are satisfied with the quality of information and analysis offered by Canadian news media (37%).”
