Canadian newspapers print blank front papers to protest lack of support for journalism from Trudeau Liberals

"Imagine if the news wasn’t there when we needed it," wrote the newspapers on the bottom of their front pages.

The front pages were printed in support of a campaign by News Media Canada, a lobbyist group which is advocating for the Canadian government to adopt a policy which is currently being proposed in Australia.

The policy would force big tech companies such as Facebook and Google to pay a share of their advertising revenue to news outlets which are shared on their sites. It would also force such companies to be non-discriminatory in their treatment of news outlets under the penalty of fines.

"It’s a fact that news companies across Canada are going out of business. COVID-19 is accelerating the decline. Journalism jobs are disappearing," said News Media Canada President and CEO John Hinds. "That means real news keeps disappearing and hate and fake news will be all that’s left to distribute."

Hinds argues that big tech companies have too much control over what news Canadians consume, and that their monopoly status over digital circulation harms both Canadians and the journalism industry.

"Google and Facebook, two of the richest companies in history, control the onramp to the internet highway in Canada. They decide what we as a sovereign nation see and don’t see in the news," Hinds argued.

"Meanwhile, all Canadian news media companies, big and small, are suffering for two reasons: First, they don’t get paid for their content by Facebook and Google; Second, Facebook and Google take over 80 per cent of all Canadian digital advertising industry revenue."

In Australia, where the policy is already being seriously considered by MPs, the legislation has faced tremendous pushback from big tech companies. Google has even threatened to pull its search engine out of Australia entirely.

Facebook has similarly opposed the Australian law, threatening to cease allowing news stories on their platform in the country if it succeeds.

"Assuming this draft code becomes law, we will reluctantly stop allowing publishers and people in Australia from sharing local and international news on Facebook and Instagram. This is not our first choice — it is our last," wrote Will Easton, Managing Director of Facebook Australia.

Tech giants have argued that news content is voluntarily placed on their platforms, and that they are not entitled to a cut of their advertising revenue despite the fact that users seeking news plays a major role in driving advertising revenue for the platforms.

Facebook has since warned Canada not to implement a similar policy, which has received multi-partisan support in the country.

"Newspapers are dropping like flies in this country, and this is one of the biggest issue, if not the biggest issue right now," claimed Conservative MP Kevin Waugh. "They see their product, exclusively on Facebook, and they’re not getting their due share of revenue from it."

Liberal Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault has also expressed support for such legislation.

The legislation has also been praised as a healthy alternative to direct financial support from the government, contrasted against the media bailout passed by the Trudeau government last year. Under such legislation, taxpayers would not be required to prop up failing news outlets, as online distributors would be responsible for paying for content.