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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 54

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 6, 2022 02:00PM
  • Apr/6/22 2:09:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, local journalism is a public good that we need to defend, and on behalf of my community, I want to recognize the 50th anniversary of our local Beach Metro Community News. Its first edition was four pages with an editorial that said, “[Our] success as a newspaper will depend on the quality of the news we write and the community’s response to the idea of a paper that will reflect and comment on their interests and concerns.” While both the quality of its work and our community's response and support has kept the paper going these 50 years, as a non-profit committed to free distribution, the Beach Metro relies on a small but mighty staff. It would not exist without its huge network of volunteers. I thank everyone who has helped make the paper what it is. Fifty years is worth celebrating, but we also need to recognize the reality that relying solely on declining advertising revenue puts local journalism in jeopardy. I therefore send my congratulations to Beach Metro for reaching such an important milestone. To its readers, let us directly support our community paper in its new fundraising drive and see it through another 50 years. It is a local public good that we need to defend.
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  • Apr/6/22 3:08:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we are living in an information age. With the Internet, news from around the world is available at the blink of an eye. That being said, we must admit that there is an imbalance of power. For years now, hundreds of local news outlets have had to close their doors for lack of revenue, while the web giants literally have a monopoly on advertising revenue. What is our government doing to provide a counterbalance?
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