Liberal Party announces plans to ‘Level the Playing Field with Digital Giants’

The Liberal Party of Canada has announced it is committed to ‘Level the Playing Field with Digital Giants’ as well as providing other support measures for journalism in the event they are re-elected in the upcoming federal election.

In their platform announcement, the Liberals committed to introduce new legislation, within 100 days of taking office, that would require digital platforms that generate revenues from the publication publication of news content to share a portion of their revenues with Canadian news outlets.

This legislation would be based on the Australian model and level the playing field between global platforms and Canadian news outlets. The bill will also allow news publishers to work together to prepare for collective negotiation, which is a position News Media Canada has advocated for in a recent marketing campaign.

The Liberals also promised additional supports for media, which include:

  • Move forward on supporting productions led by people from equity-deserving groups working in the Canadian audiovisual industry.
  • Support the production of news in underserved communities with $50 million over five years through the Local Journalism Initiative.
  • Develop a new $50 million Changing Narratives Fund to empower diverse communities, including BIPOC journalists and creatives, with the tools to tell their own stories and promote diverse voices in arts and culture and across media.

News Media Canada president and CEO Paul Deegan provided commented on the plan to the Toronto Star, which you can read here.