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Real media choice for Canadians
Tell the CRTC that rules to limit concentration of broadcast ownership are important to allow for a diversity of voices in Canada's media. You can send a message today, using the form below. Please tell your family and friends to do the same.
Why?
Because media ownership is more highly concentrated in Canada than almost anywhere else in the industrialized world. A handful of big media conglomerates control what Canadians can most readily see, hear and read.
That means less local and regional content and less analysis of events that shape our lives. Fewer owners means fewer opportunities to express the diverse ideas and prespectives that make up Canadian life. We need to reverse this trend before big media gets even bigger!
Tell the CRTC to ensure a diversity of voices on our TVs and radios, in our newspapers and on the internet.
| Sample Letter for Campaign |
Subject: Public Hearing CRTC 2007-5: Diversity of voices in Canada's media
Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,
I want a choice in what I see on TV, hear on the radio and read in the newspaper and on the internet. I support a policy limiting concentrated and cross-ownership of the media in Canada.
We are already seeing less local content, less diversity of ideas in our media, and less representation of minority communities.
Allowing further cross-ownership of newspapers and broadcast stations, or further concentration in local and regional markets, will only worsen the problems. Voluntary codes intended to keep the various newsrooms of a single conglomerate separate are not enough, as we have seen with Quebecor's move to integrate newspaper and TV newsrooms in both the Province of Quebec and in Toronto.
Any public policy seeking to protect diversity in the media must recognize the simple fact that ownership matters.
Because this review comes after a wave of media mergers, I call for a policy that forces divestiture by media companies with concentrated holdings in a given market. I also call for the creation of and financial support for independent, community-based media in markets underserved by existing media, and for more funds to be directed to public broadcasters for the creation of Canadian programming.
I do not wish to appear before the CRTC in September, but I want to ensure that my voice is both heard and counted at those hearings.
My email address is:
Sincerely,
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Campaign Launched:
June 21, 2007
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Media diversity is the cornerstone of democracy. But media ownership is more highly concentrated in Canada than almost anywhere else in the industrialized world.
Now, big media companies are poised to get even bigger.
This year alone, the CRTC is dealing with three big takeover applications: the CTVglobemedia purchase of CHUM, the Astral Media purchase of Standard Broadcasting to create the country's biggest radio network, and the CanWest Global purchase of Alliance Atlantis. Meanwhile, Rogers is acquiring five local Citytv stations and Quebecor is buying Ontario's Osprey newspaper chain (including Kingston Whig-Standard and Sudbury Star, among dozens of other local dailies and weeklies).
Over the last year, 280 journalists and other media workers were laid off at CHUM with the cancellation of local TV newscasts in Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. There were also significant job losses at Quebecor's Sun Media with the creation of central desks to produce content for the chain's local papers.
It all adds up to less local and regional content, more direct owner control over content, and less analysis of the events that shape our lives. It also means less representation of minority communities. In the end, it's less media choice for all Canadians and fewer jobs in an important sector of the country's economy.
Media mergers will also have an impact on the diversity and neutrality of new online media. Just as access to the vibrant traditional media is not guaranteed, neither is access to diverse web-based media.
The best way for Canadians to be assured access to a diversity of media voices is for Canada to have a diversity of media owners.
What you can do:
Send a message to the CRTC, the body that regulates broadcasters. It is holding a hearing in September on how to ensure the diversity of media voices and it will accept submissions from the public until July 18, 2007. Given that the current political climate favours deregulation, these hearings could lead to more concentrated media ownership. There is also likely to be pressure to relax foreign ownership rules, leaving our media vulnerable to takeovers by even bigger US and international media companies. The airwaves belong to the public. The CRTC needs to hear from you.
What else can you do? Visit http://democraticmedia.ca/
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