CBC’s ‘increased presence’ in local news would expand ‘predatory’ practice

Maybe we should have said it louder. It’s almost as if the senators were asleep when we told them CBC engaged in “predatory business practices” that hurt private-sector news organizations, including Nunatsiaq News.

The Senate’s transportation and communications committee released a report Wednesday on the future of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., called Local News Matters: Rethinking CBC/Radio-Canada’s Role in a Changing Media Landscape.

The report reads like a parliamentary blessing of CBC’s publicly funded foray into local news, without much concern for how much harder that makes it for privately owned news organizations to thrive.

The Senate committee made seven recommendations, including that the federal government give “stable, multi-year funding” to CBC and Radio-Canada “to enhance local programming.”

Another recommendation is for the federal government to add “the reflection of local communities” to CBC/Radio-Canada’s mandate in the Broadcasting Act. Since 1991, its mandate has simply been to “provide a wide range of programming that informs, enlightens and entertains.”

Earlier this year, CBC announced 11 new local bureaus and the hiring of 33 more journalists across Canada. While it’s probably good for the public broadcaster to expand into so-called “news deserts” in Flin Flon, Man., and Haines Junction, Yukon, there are other markets — including Nunavut and Nunavik — where existing private-sector organizations must compete with CBC.

The report and its recommendations are disappointing. It says the committee supports CBC’s “increased presence in local communities” but recognizes that should not come “at the expense of local media already established in certain markets.”

It’s hard to have it both ways. In Canada’s delicate news ecosystem, Parliament can’t tell CBC to be more present in local markets without it having a detrimental effect on the existing players.

Nunatsiaq News and CBC compete for news stories. We also compete for journalists. Competition is good. It forces everyone to be better. However, CBC has a $1.4-billion-a-year advantage thanks to government funding. And with its deep pockets full of taxpayers’ money, CBC can pay better than private-sector news organizations.

We also compete for advertising. In online news, CBC benefits from its government subsidy but also cashes in by selling ads. When testifying at the Senate committee’s hearing in 2024, Nunatsiaq News called that “a predatory business practice, funded by the federal government.”

The committee invited news organizations from every region of Canada to describe what CBC’s presence in their areas looked like. The subsequent report included some of their evidence.

“CBC is in competition with the private-sector news organizations, including their broadcast competitors… but also with the newspapers and radio stations,” I told the committee members.

“We also compete with CBC when it comes to recruiting and retaining journalists. With its massive federal government support, CBC can offer compensation that exceeds ours. It routinely poaches employees from private-sector news organizations, including ours.”

In a country as complex as Canada, it’s important to have a national public broadcaster.

But it’s also vital in a free society to have a healthy, competitive, private-sector news industry. The $1.4 billion in public funding the CBC gets makes it hard for private-sector news organizations like Nunatsiaq News to compete.

Corey Larocque has been the managing editor of Nunatsiaq News since 2020. He worked as a writer in the Senate’s communications directorate from 2016 to 2018.