Many changes in the world of news and newspapers

   I have noted a few times in this column that, over the past number of years, 20 or more Manitoba community newspapers have closed up shop. Almost all were corporately owned, unlike most community newspapers in Manitoba, which are privately owned.
   There are only two corporately owned community newspapers left in Manitoba after last week’s announcement that the Winnipeg Free Press is closing its last two Winnipeg weekly community news editions. At one time, the Free Press had five weekly community newspapers before reducing that number to two a couple of years ago. Now it has none in Winnipeg.
   The Free Press’ two remaining community newspapers are the Steinbach Carillon and the Brandon Sun’s weekly edition, Westman This Week. As a long-time lover of newspapers, rural communities and the written word, newspaper closures sadden me greatly.
   The latest threat to community newspapers and the factor that caused the demise of the two Winnipeg weeklies, is the removal of flyers from newspapers by Transcontinental Printing and its distribution arm, Targeo. TC has decided to move to an ad-bag system and will distribute bags of flyers through Canada Post under the brand name Raddar.
   I am not sure how that will work, as up to 50 per cent of Canada Post mailboxes are labelled “Consumers’ Choice,” meaning those customers have opted not to receive flyers. Consumers’ Choice is one of the reasons we don’t use Canada Post. There are other reasons, but that was a major factor in this paper no longer being delivered through Canada Post.
   Canada Post approved $30.8 million in bonuses for its managers and executives in 2025, the same year it recorded its largest pre-tax loss ever and accepted a $1.03-billion taxpayer-funded bailout, according to government records obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
I am not sure in what alternative universe an executive receives a bonus after hundreds of millions of dollars in losses.
   In the television world, Corus Entertainment, owner of the Global Television Network and multiple radio stations, says programming changes across Canada will result in dozens of job losses. Five of those positions are in Manitoba. There have been many other cuts at internet and television companies.
   Most media outlets, including newspapers, television and radio networks, receive government subsidies. The most notorious is the CBC, which receives more than $1 billion every year.
   There is also the Canadian Journalism Labour Tax Credit, under which news outlets receive a tax credit for each journalist they employ. In addition, there is the Local Journalism Initiative, while Google funding is distributed by the Canadian Journalism Collective.
   A couple of years ago, the federal government announced an agreement with Google over Bill C-18, the Online News Act. The tech giant had threatened to limit Canadians’ access to news on its platforms, similar to the approach taken by Meta.
   Under the agreement, Google will pay Canadian news companies $100 million annually.
   Google has officially become the world’s most profitable company, reporting $116 billion in net income over the past year.
   Meta took a different approach and blocked access to Canadian news content, including this newspaper. Facebook’s parent company, Meta, reported a net profit of $62.3 billion in 2024.
   Large internet companies should be compensating news outlets for their content because they make a great deal of money from news content produced by other people.
   There is something I have been wondering about for a while. With all the subsidies coming directly from government, as well as through government-mandated policies, will the day come when all media income comes from government? Or is that part of the plan, so that no news organization will hold government to account?
   It is moving closer to reality.
   I hope and pray that the media can continue to hold governments and businesses to account. But that means newspapers must stay local, produce good content, and continue to earn the support of advertisers and readers.