I cannot stay out of this debate anymore. Newsmedia Canada, the newspaper lobby group that represents chains like Postmedia, Torstar, Black Press, has really outdone itself. @klaszus nails it: these chains strip value out of community newsrooms https://twitter.com/klaszus/status/1357358373226696705

If the Canadian gov wants to save JOURNALISM, rather than saving SPECIFIC NEWS BUSINESSES, they'd be wise to consider the inefficiency of subsidizing these big chains. Torstar and Postmedia spend 12 to 17 cents of every dollar on journalism. ...

Meantime, digital upstarts like @sprawlcalgary spend 75 cents of every dollar on journalism. 2000 members pay for @sprawlcalgary because it built trust. BUT it is locked out of most of gov funding because of eligibility requirements designed to protect the old guard

This campaign from Newsmedia Canada is the latest of its efforts to get someone else to pay for its failure (Google and Facebook this time). Torstar was worth billions in '08 + sold for 60M last year. Tax payers should be furious about bailing out that disaster

I believe Facebook and Google need regulation for sure. I'm concerned about the impacts on our democracy of misinformation, data privacy, consolidation in the ad market. But the proposal from Newsmedia Canada and friends (looking at you CBC) is disingenuous at best

This campaign is an untruthful attempt to harness the public's righteous anger at platforms, an important debate, to fund executive bonuses and vulture equity. This is not about saving journalism. This is about saving their own businesses, and it's not in the public interest

Please @s_guilbeault, don't buy this narrative from Newsmedia Canada. This will hurt innovation and the future of news. Newsmedia Canada's failure to rep the whole industry is why Canada's most innovative news orgs started a new industry org @pressforward_ca. We need a better way