CAJ supports Public Policy Forum proposals for sustainable journalism

OTTAWA, Jan. 30, 2017 /CNW/ - As years of newsroom cuts have slashed the number of journalists across Canada and caused widespread anxiety about who's next on the chopping block, the Canadian Association of Journalists knows our members demand proactive, non-intrusive solutions that will allow them to keep Canadians informed.

The CAJ applauds the Public Policy Forum's thoughtful analysis of chronic challenges in local journalism in its report, The Shattered Mirror, and supports several recommendations that address the ongoing revenue crisis and promote public-interest journalism. In particular, we support:

• amendments to Section 19 and 19.1 of the Income Tax Act that would incentivize advertising in Canadian media online;
• extending GST/HST to digital subscriptions to foreign-owned news media, and offering rebates on subscriptions to Canadian-owned news organizations;
• amending Canadian charity laws and regulations to incentivize charitable and philanthropic support of public-interest journalism; and
• empowering the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network to manage an Indigenous journalism initiative that would increase the number of Indigenous journalists and expand coverage of Indigenous institutions.

The CAJ takes no immediate position on the rest of the report's recommendations, including the choice Future of Journalism & Democracy Fund as a mechanism to foster innovation.

"The Public Policy Forum's exhaustive study clearly reached out to a wide variety of voices in the journalism community," said CAJ President Nick Taylor-Vaisey. "The report reflects many of those voices, which is a step forward in a long discussion about sustainability."

At our testimony to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage last September, the CAJ called for incentives to prospective local advertisers in Canadian communities, and for government to make it easier for non-profit journalism to take flight in Canada. We think the PPF's recommendations to that end are no-brainers.

SOURCE Canadian Association of Journalists

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Nick Taylor-Vaisey, CAJ President, 647.968.2393, [email protected]

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