Media and union groups are worried that the Canadian Journalism Collective could prioritize its own interests instead of those of the industry at large
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Canadian news and labour organizations are raising conflict-of-interest concerns about the group of small publishers Google has selected to distribute a $100-million fund aimed at protecting Canadian journalism.
The Canadian Journalism Collective (CJC) is closely connected to the private Indiegraf platform, with six clients among the CJC’s 12 directors. The CJC is chaired by Erin Millar, CEO of Indiegraf, a Canadian-based platform for independent and local news startups with prior connections to both Google and Facebook.
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The small CJC was chosen over rival bidder the Online News Media Collective, which represents 95 per cent of news outlets in Canada. The larger group has raised concerns the CJC could prioritize its own interests instead of those of the industry at large.
According to the CJC’s corporate filing, it was founded as a non-profit organization on May 20, 2024, two weeks before the tech giant’s June 7 announcement of its choice of managers for the fund, which allowed Google to remain exempt from the Online News Act, which requires large digital platforms to compensate Canadian news organization for their content.
In a statement, Lana Payne, president of Unifor, Canada’s largest media union, expressed concerns about potential conflicts of interest.
“Unifor is deeply concerned about the governance of the organization that has been selected to distribute Google’s financial commitment under the Online News Act,” said Payne.
Payne noted that in addition to Millar, six of the 12 collective’s board of directors are Indiegraf clients. The six committee members are Brandie Schier (The Discourse), Eden Fineday (Indiginews), Grabielle Brassard (Pivot), Matthew DiMera (The Resolve), Adam Reaburn (Energeticcity) and Dru Jay (The Breach).
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In October 2022, Google was one of three funders to grant Indiegraf $3.5 million to launch the News Startup Fund, an initiative designed to support independent, community-focused digital news startups. Millar is a frequent speaker at Newsgeist, an annual event organized by Google and the Knight Foundation for journalists, tech entrepreneurs, and academics.
The National Post reported that at Google’s 2022 North American Newsgeist conference in Montreal, Google considered funding a lobbyist to represent independent news publishers and help them push for changes to the Online News Act.
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In a statement to the National Post, Indiegraf’s CEO Millar discounted conflict of interest and transparency concerns.
“I have complete faith in the interim board’s ability to rapidly implement its plan, which represents the full diversity of the news ecosystem, in accordance with the Online News Act and best practices for non-profit governance,” she said in the statement.
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The Online News Media Collective is led by News Media Canada (of which Postmedia, owner of the National Post, is a member), the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, and CBC/Radio-Canada.
News Media Canada CEO Paul Deegan said that one of the CJC’s independent board directors, Sadia Zaman, is also CEO of the Inspirit Foundation, which has funded Indiegraf.
“Clearly, this board needs an overhaul to ensure its composition is truly representative of the full diversity of the Canadian news media ecosystem,” Deegan told the National Post.
In a statement shared with the Toronto Star, the CJC said only seven of its 12 members will remain on its interim board — and that the remaining members assisted in putting together the proposal and may or may not continue on permanently. The group said it plans to invite large and established media organizations, such as News Media Canada.
Google and Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, strongly opposed the Online News Act; Meta ended up banning news content for Canadians on June 22, 2023, the same day the bill received royal assent.
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In a victory for the Liberals, who became one of the first governments to implement a law other jurisdictions around the world hope to adopt, Google complied, committing $100 million, indexed to inflation, as part of its agreement to remain exempt from the Online News Act on Dec. 1, 2023. News organizations were asked to apply and receive compensation upon review by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).
A group of news publishers that includes members of the Online News Media Collective has submitted a set of requests to the CRTC to ensure equitable distribution of the funds.
The demands include adding more regulations to ensure that the definition of a “full-time equivalent” employee actually meets the criteria for full-time work, capping the administrative fee that the collective can receive at $500,000, and requiring that new businesses reconfirm their eligibility if the CRTC makes any criteria changes.
Paul MacNeill, a newspaper publisher in Prince Edward Island, told National Post he doesn’t care which organization controls the money as long as the rules are clear and there are proper oversight mechanisms to ensure it is distributed fairly and with accountability.
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“The News Media Canada-led collective was clearly the bigger of the two. It was clearly a more experienced of the two. It was clearly the broader of the two, but Google is allowed to pick who they want. The CRTC, then, is allowed to make sure that the rules are right to make up for some of those apparent deficiencies and skill sets,” said MacNeill.
The CRTC’s consultations, which have yet to begin, could still see the larger media group contest the CJC’s proposal outright. The CRTC has said it is committed to involving media stakeholders in the consultation process.
In the meantime, the CJC said it is working to establish its infrastructure and prepare to accept applications for the executive director position.
MacNeill acknowledged the “bad optics” around the choice of CJC, but says the CRTC could establish policies to address deficiencies and conflicts of interest.
“The conflict is a real issue. As journalists, we hold politicians and organizations up to conflict every single day, and if we’re not willing to hold ourselves to the same bar, then why in the world would anyone trust journalism?” said MacNeill.
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