Newspaper Publishers Demand $350 Million Yearly To Rescue Print Journalism

In this modern era, digital content revolution has taken over and is crippling the business model of newspaper publishers, who have taken matters into their hands to ask Ottawa for $350 million funding to help maintain the online media and print industry.

Web-based and newspaper journalism providers will be given back 35 per cent of a journalist’s salary by the Canadian journalism fund, braced at $85,000.

They are only seeking for the kind of help that the government already channels to other media outlets, says the publishers. They noted the CBC’s budget was increased by $135 million yearly, $371 million was contributed to digital projects, $90 million introduced by CRTC for local TV supports and $75 million is being currently funded yearly to magazine publishers by the Canadian Periodical Fund.

The $75 million funded by the Canadian periodicals fund will be folded in by the Canadian journalism fund which will then finance both magazine and newspaper journalism.

With all these sums put together, we’ve got an uneven playing field, says the publisher of Winnipeg free press Bob Cox.

Newspaper publishers say that Ottawa, using general tax revenues or taxing the U.S. tech giants selling online ads targeting Canadians could help fund the news media.

Another recent report commissioned by the federal government came out with an estimate that about $400 million could be raised yearly by taxing the Canadian ad revenue of Facebook and Google.