TORONTO – Unifor says yesterday’s announcement by the federal government to forge a path forward with Google by implementing the Online News Act and keeping local and national news content accessible for Canadians is encouraging, and the union eagerly awaits to see the finalized regulations.
Imagine going to work every day, knowing that you may be a target of attack or that you may be killed on the job. But you’re not a soldier or a police officer. Instead, you’re armed only with pen and notepad, or perhaps a smartphone and camera.
You are on the frontlines to narrate our stories, keep the public informed, and reveal the happenings in communities and across the globe.
The impact of big tech, shrinking revenues and increased job cuts in the media sector, race and reporting, and harassment of journalists were among the headline discussions at this year’s Unifor Media Council, held Sept. 22 to 24 in Halifax.
Unifor National President Lana Payne spoke to the 100 delegates via Zoom and acknowledged media workers have had their share of hardships over the past years, including 2023.
World News Day (September 28) is a global campaign to amplify the power and impact of fact-based journalism. But one day is not enough.
We have seen digital media giants moving into the Canadian media landscape, siphoning off much needed advertising revenue, upending the traditional funding models that supported newspaper publishing and broadcast TV.
TORONTO- Metroland Media, owned and controlled by Jordan Bitove’s Nordstar, is betraying workers and leaving an information vacuum in many communities by ending the print publication of 70 of weekly community newspapers and shuttering its flyer delivery business.
TORONTO- In the past week, Unifor submitted three submissions to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and the Heritage department, responding to draft regulations and Bell Media’s attempts to water down its news requirements.
TORONTO – In the wake of Meta’s threat to ban Canadian news on its platforms because of the Online News Act, Unifor is calling on all provincial and municipal governments to follow the federal and Quebec governments’ announcements that they will stop advertising on Facebook and Instagram.
Unifor is also calling on corporations who are responsible for a large portion of the more than $4 billion in revenue Facebook takes out of Canada every year to also stand up for local news and Canadian content.
Unifor strongly opposes Bell Media’s application to the CRTC to eliminate all regulatory requirements for local news at all of its CTV, CTV2 and Noovo stations across Canada. We will do everything in our power to ensure that Bell Media continues to live up to its legislated obligations to fund and create local news and programming.
Unifor applauds last week’s passing of Bill C-18: The Online News Act as an important next step towards supporting local news and Canadian content in the media.
“The government has made it law for digital platforms, such as Google and Facebook, to pay their fair share. This is something Unifor members have fought hard for and now we need to make sure it works,” said Lana Payne, Unifor National President.
For too many of our members and media workers this has to feel like Groundhog Day.
News of the proposed merger between Postmedia and Nordstar is brutal on top of the other job losses and cuts in media since the start of this year.
The sector has been in a continuous and sometimes rapid decline. We at Unifor are deeply concerned about the continued consolidation of our Canadian news media.
Our priority is jobs and journalism.
It’s time this became everyone else’s priority. The media companies. And all levels of government.
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