Manitoba to evaluate supports for news media

A report in the Winnipeg Free Press indicates that the Manitoba provincial government will be striking an all-party committee to determine how it could support news organizations in the future.

“If there’s a business landscape that makes it much more difficult for journalists to keep doing that important work, I think there is a need to have a conversation about some form of public support or at least a fair hearing of those issues,” Premier Wab Kinew said late last week.

Kinew said the committee would “look at the future of journalism in the province, including whether there’s public supports that might be needed, or to discuss whether a specific percentage of government and Crown corporation advertising should be dedicated to supporting local media.”

Earlier this year, Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government directed the four largest provincial agencies in charge of gaming, liquor and cannabis to earmark 25 per cent of their advertising budgets to Ontario publishers that are qualified as journalism organizations by the Canada Revenue Agency.