Facts and figures on the Commons Heritage committee study of the news media

OTTAWA – The House of Commons Heritage committee study of “media and local communities” is looking at the state of Canada’s news industry in the digital age. A few facts about its investigation:

— Since 2011, 20 out of 122 daily newspapers in Canada have closed, including two in 2016, according to Canadian Heritage.

— Those who have testified since the Heritage committee began hearings on Feb. 23 include executives of the CBC, CTV, Rogers, Postmedia, the Toronto Star, the Canadian Punjabi Post, The Globe and Mail, Vice Canada, Rebel Media, Google, the Canadian Association of Journalists and the CRTC, to name a few. Tuesday was the Heritage committee’s 32nd meeting on the subject.

— There have been at least four previous major studies of the Canadian news industry by government bodies, starting with the Senate’s special committee on mass media struck in March 1969.

— The Heritage committee hearings aren’t the only media studies currently underway. The Liberal government also hired the independent Public Policy Forum earlier this year to assess Canada’s news industry and present potential policy options. And the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) issued a policy framework in June stressing the importance of local news and broadcasting as a public service.