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Tomorrow we will likely see a coordinated campaign from @NewsMediaCanada members & others designed kick into high gear to exert pressure on the Trudeau Govt to import the Aussie news code regulating the news media cos' terms of trade w/ Google & Facebook. @s_guilbeault 1/6
If I'm correct, major newspapers across Canada & a familiar crew from @ppforumca @friendscb etc will carpet bomb the public sphere w/ self-serving arguments how FB & Google are destroying journalism, the media & democracy & should hand over buckets of $ to @NewsMediaCanada 2/6
members. It will come wrapped in noble public interest garb & myths of democracy (vs the real thing). Anyone interested in this db8 has been invited to write op-eds w/ letters encouraging J-Schools across Canada to chime in, but only those who sing from the same hymn sheet 3/6
will b published. The press will close ranks & brook no dissent. Those who can't or won't sing from the same hymn sheet won't be published (some will still b paid for op-eds that don't make the cut). It will be a travesty of the free press in the name of saving the free press 4/6
The potential for a new era of public interest-oriented Internet regulation will be lost in favour of one that serves these private interests. The commercial press (& other CDN media cos), as in AUS, will line up for a bigger slice of the surveillance capitalism big data pie. 5/6
The collusion kept in the dark. Canadians & democracy will be the poorer for it & those who own the media maybe a bit richer while think tanks, lobbyists & too many academics will have sold their souls, a faustian bargain for what?
More than one op-ed on this issue has already been spiked. This is truly a sordid story &, if it succeeds, i.e. @s_guilbeault @CdnHeritage @justintrudeau @CanadianPM go along with it, the new era of Internet regulation & democracy will be just another missed opportunity.
