Earlier this week, Jaime Irving, News Media Canada’s chair appeared before the Senate Committee on Transportation and Communication to discuss Bill S-225, An Act to amend the Copyright Act (remuneration for journalistic works) that promotes a copyright fix to remunerate journalists.
News Media Canada’s presentation, set out here, made the case for legislation to allow collective bargaining and arbitration to address the online advertising monopoly created by Facebook and Google. Senators probed a number of areas with the witnesses including whether existing government supports are not sufficient; whether the Australian model has proven to be workable for regional publishers and legacy publishers.
Also appearing before the committee were Kevin Chan from Facebook and Michael Geist, the Canada Research Chair on Internet and Digital Policy at the University of Ottawa.
