Unifor members from the media sector have been meeting online with Members of Parliament, including Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, pushing the need for big tech firms to pay their fair share to support local news.
“Journalism is vital to the functioning of our democracy, and yet the entire sector is in crisis as big tech firms claim 90% of digital ad dollars,” said Unifor National President Jerry Dias, who led the delegation meeting with Rodriguez.
“There has been a lot of talk, but now is the time for action.”
November 2 is the United Nations International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists.
Over the past 10 years, a journalist is killed every four days and nine out of 10 killings go unpunished.
Killing a journalist is the ultimate form of censorship, and many more journalists around the world face kidnappings, torture, violence and harassment.
TORONTO – The escalating harassment faced by journalists – particularly online and targeting women and workers of colour – is absolutely unacceptable and Unifor is putting together a major project to address the issue.
“Unifor condemns this behaviour. No journalist should have to face the kind of threatening, misogynist and racist harassment that has become so commonplace,” said Unifor National President Jerry Dias.
Speaking at Unifor Media Council Wednesday, National President Jerry Dias committed the union to picking up the fight for a stable media sector in the wake of this week’s federal election.
“I have already been on the phone with the PMO,” Dias told the online gathering. “We are going to continue to fight for the future of your industry.”
This column from Unifor National President Jerry Dias and Daniel Bernhard, executive director of FRIENDS of Canadian Broadcasting, first appeared in the Toronto Star.
If Facebook’s latest plan to pay 14 Canadian media outlets for their content was a good-faith effort to support Canadian journalism, it would not have sworn participating outlets to secrecy, just to kick the tires on their offer.
Facebook is hiding these deals behind non-disclosure agreements because its real intention is not to pay for news, but to avoid paying for it.
It seems Erin O’Toole’s Conservatives just can’t pass up any opportunity to feed the party’s right-wing base and do some fundraising.
The Conservatives are standing in front of microphones and e-mailing supporters spinning a myth that the CRTC is going to police the YouTube and Facebook video uploads of everyday citizens.
If Bill C-10 – legislation updating the long-standing Canadian content obligations of commercial broadcasters for the modern era of Internet streaming - gets caught in this political crossfire, O’Toole doesn’t mind.
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