Despite the federal government providing a $595 million bailout to the media industry four years ago, news corporations have seen a continuous decline, according to the Department of Canadian Heritage.
The Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications heard testimony from associate assistant deputy heritage minister Thomas Ripley on April 25 as part of the discussion on Bill 18, the Online News Act.
“A small number of digital platforms are now dominant,” said Ripley. “Bill C-18 creates a new legislative framework and a regulatory framework to deal with the bargaining imbalances between the digital platforms and the media outlets and enables them to negotiate the true value of online news content in place.”…