How Canada Can Support Serious Journalism

Today I submitted this 3-page comment letter [updated version 2016-10-04] with a policy proposal to let Canadian voters allocate public funding to competing journalist teams. This would support more public interest journalism such as election coverage and watching out for corruption in government. I recommend testing it in municipal politics before implementing it nationally. Canada's federal government has commissioned a study and report on this topic from the Public Policy Forum.

Quote:

It's not that people don't understand the need for [public interest journalism]. We just need an incentive-compatible way to pay for it.

Relevant links:

• 2016-03-10 Does serious journalism have a future in Canada?
• 2016-06-21 Five things to know with Canada's news media industry under public policy review
• 2016-08-07 John Oliver (HBO) Last Week Tonight: Journalism
• 2016-08-08 Podcast interview: Should The Government Bail Out The News Business?
• 2016-09-01 Ottawa cuts newspaper ad spending amid worries about sector