Quebec culture minister Christine St-Pierre announced at the FPJQ conference that she has ordered a study be done on the future of media in Quebec. Dominique Payette, a professor at Université Laval and former journalist for Radio-Canada, has been put in charge of this study.
The scope seems to be pretty large, and could touch on everything from whether newspapers should be subsidized to whether the government should fund a news department at Télé-Québec. (My knee-jerk reaction to both would be “no”.)
Although the situation in Quebec media is different from the rest of the world (some would say we’re behind the times, which is a plus for newspapers and television networks), I don’t know if it’s so different that a study like this will bring any new insight into this debate that has already been over-analyzed by self-proclaimed experts all over the world.
More information at Le Devoir, Agence France-Presse (!) and Projet J, which has an interview with St-Pierre.
I would have to agree about funding a news broadcast for Tele-Quebec (french TV already has Radio Canada , I fail to see the point in another government funded news broadcast (provincial or federal)
I hesitated to be against funding newspapers but Quebec already has several major ones which are protected by a hostage market (I read the New-York Times but half of Quebec doesn’t speak English and French from France news are pointless)
To a lesser degree so are English montrealers (except CTV and the Gazette where do you get local news?)
Besides La Presse and Le Devoir have rarely turned a profit but private fundskeep them afloat anyway, and Le journal usually does fine
Quebec is not rich enough to waste taxpayer money on non-profitable uses (healthcare makes you pay taxes longer, education makes ou pay more taxes… government funded news makes you vote conservative?)
No need for a news department over at Tele-Quebec. Nor any more government funding of any media. Montreal has 4 daily newspapers. How many other cities in North America can say that. Plus all the daily free ones. We have enough.
This all sounds like the Quebec government is trying to meddle into things it has no business in. It should stick to funding things that it has commited itself to, such as healthcare, public roads. And stop wasting taxpayer money on garbage. This province is in very serious debt, and needs to cut down on it’s expenses. Not add more.
If they fund any new news media, this will become a tool of Quebec City. They will tax us to support it. I would prefer that they tax us less, we keep more money in our pockets, and use this money to buy the newspapers, magazines, and whatever else we feel is important to each of us instead.
OK, here is my take. You do not need another bunch of journalists talking about what happens next with the news media, especially the print media. Get some people with real experience on the advertising and business side and ask them for their ideas, suggestions and analysis on how to pay for the news gathering.
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