Survey finds 90 per cent of Canadians think it’s important that local media outlets survive
Ninety per cent of Canadians believe that it’s important that local media outlets survive. This data comes from a survey about Canadian’s views on the importance of local media, conducted by Pollara Strategic Insights on behalf of News Media Canada. For the survey, 1,500 adult Canadians were polled between May 20 and May 26, 2022. According to a release from News Media Canada, the data has been weighted by region, gender, and age based on the most recent census data, in order to be representative of all Canadians.
The survey also found that 79 per cent of Canadians agree that “web giants should have to share revenue with Canadian media outlets,” and 89 per cent support parliament passing a law that would let smaller outlets negotiate collectively with web giants.
“There is majority support for forcing web giants to share revenues with Canadian media outlets among survey respondents in both cities and rural communities, among both young and old, and across partisan lines,” said Dan Arnold, Chief Strategy Officer at Pollara. “This means that Canadians who consume their news in many different ways can all come together and agree on the importance of this issue.”
The survey data was broken down by political affiliation, and the support was clear, regardless of partisanship.
“Canadians value their local news outlets, and they believe web giants should have to share some of their revenue with Canadian media outlets,” said Paul Deegan, president and chief executive officer of News Media Canada. “Across partisan lines, Canadians believe Parliament should pass a law that would allow smaller outlets to negotiate collectively with web giants. It is time for parliamentarians to pass C-18, the Online News Act.”
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