Local newspapers and radio stations are the country’s most trusted sources of news, according to a new study into local media outlets in Canada.
Titled “The Lost Estate: How to put the local back in local news,” the Public Policy Forum, Rideau Hall Foundation and the Michener Awards Foundation commissioned polling firm Ipsos to study the perceived importance of local news to “community knowledge, connections and democracy in small and mid-sized Canadian communities.”
The report says that local news helps knit local communities together.
“It builds connection through ephemera such as marriage announcements, obituaries and little league soccer scores, as well as delivering accountability to the very foundation of healthy, functioning democracies — school board meetings, courtroom trials, municipal councils,” the report says.
“Done well, local news lets people know what their neighbours are doing, what they’re thinking, who they are. It gives a community the language to understand itself.”
Data from communities in the United States who have lost their local newspaper, the report said, has seen resident retreat into partisan corners and more likely to fill the news vacuum by turning to more divisive national news and inaccurate social media posts.
Despite the importance of local news, the report asserts that “existing corporate models have been devastating for local news.” This has led to both large corporations and independent news providers shutting down, but the report says that local providers tend to stay in the fight longer because they have more skin in the game.
The report cites information from Toronto Metropolitan University’s Local News Research Project, which has said that Canada has lost a net 252 local news outlets since 2008, including 24 net closures in the last two years. There were 526 outlets in 2008, there were 347 as of last year.
Though government subsidies helped keep some local operations afloat over the COVID-19 pandemic, 37 outlets closed in 2023. In the first 11 months of 2024, another five shut down though nine more opened their doors.
Some of the factors in this collapse that the report lists are the failure of non-local corporate ownership models, a collapse of traditional advertising revenues (a 44 per cent drop from 2018 to 2022) and Meta’s decision to block Canadian news outlets on Facebook and Instagram in response to the Online News Act.
Listed in the report are several examples of both news startups that have seen success despite the state of the industry as well as outlets formerly part of larger chains that have gone independent.
A survey held between Jan. 9 and 20 got the thoughts of 489 people from communities with a population of fewer than 10,000 residents and 512 people in communities with a population of 10,000 to 99,999 residents. The survey has a margin of error of 3.5 per cent.
When it comes to trust in news sources, 85 per cent of respondents said they either have a great deal of trust in or somewhat trust newspapers compared to 15 per cent who either don’t really trust or don’t trust them at all as sources of news.
There was a similar level of trust in local radio stations, at 85 per cent total support. National newspapers and local online news sites also had similar levels of total support at 71 per cent each.
National TV and radio news each had 69 per cent total support, national online news sites had 62 per cent support, international news sites had 55 per cent support, local social media groups had 46 per cent support and news on social media channels ranked last at 26 per cent total support.
Respondents also said which news sources were available in their community:
- 69 per cent of respondents had access to a local radio station
- 67 per cent had a local newspaper
- 54 per cent had local social media groups
- 49 per cent had a local media website
- 38 per cent had a local television station
- 10 per cent had other kinds of local media and
- Four per cent had no local media of any sort.
In the split between communities with fewer than 10,000 residents and those with a greater population, those in larger communities were much more likely to have available media sources.
For example, 62 per cent of respondents in smaller communities had local radio stations or newspapers while 72 per cent of respondents in larger communities had local newspapers and 75 per cent had local radio stations.
Asked to rank how importance local news was to them, 36 per cent of respondents said it was very important, 41 per cent said it was somewhat important, 16 per cent said it was not very important and seven per cent said it was not at all important.
On how much they relied on local news, 36 per cent they relied on it a great deal, 43 per cent said they somewhat relied on it, 16 per cent said they didn’t rely on it very much and six per cent said they didn’t rely on it at all.
Here’s how respondents ranked their most relied-on news source:
- Local radio, 22 per cent,
- Local newspaper, 22 per cent
- Local social media group, 20 per cent
- Local TV station, 17 per cent
- Local website, 15 per cent
- Other local media, three per cent.
Another question was what impact a lack of local news coverage has on respondents.
61 per cent said they knew less about how local government, schools and hospitals worked, 58 per cent said they had fewer ties to their community, 57 per cent said there was decreased participation in local events, 54 per cent said created less of a sense of caring for one another, 36 per cent said it led to less demand for local small businesses, 34 per cent said it lowered turnout in municipal elections, 34 per cent said it led to people having less in common with each other, 15 per cent listed other impacts and five per cent said there was no impact.
In communities with a population of less than 10,000 people, 40 per cent of respondents said a lack of local news led to less turnout for municipal elections compared to 28 per cent in larger communities.
Respondents were asked several questions about the importance of local news when it comes to politics.
A total of 87 per cent indicated strong or somewhat support for the statement that local news is important to a properly functioning democracy.
Another 80 per cent said local news reporting keeps local politicians accountable.
If governments provide financial support to news organizations, 76 per cent said they were worried it might introduce bias. A further 71 per cent said they were worried that if government provided financial support to news organizations, it might compromise their independence.
Three-quarters, 75 per cent, of respondents said democracy would be threatened by a lack of local news. In BC, respondents were more likely to assert that democracy would be threatened by a lack of news, with 81 per cent support.
One section of questions was devoted to how much respondents consume news from the CBC.
More than half, 57 per cent, of respondents said they consume news from the CBC. In Atlantic Canada, 75 per cent of respondents indicated they consume news from the CBC.
Asked to rank how often they use various CBC services, a total of 82 per cent of people said they checked the website at least once a month, 68 per cent said they watched CBC TV news once a month, 64 per cent said they listened to CBC Radio or Radio-Canada and 31 per cent said they used CBC Gem, the Crown corporation’s streaming app.
When it comes to respondents’ level of involvement in their community over the last five years, 62 per cent said there was no change, 28 per cent said they were more involved and 10 per cent said they were less involved.
The final questions were on respondents’ willingness to donate to local news sources. 32 per cent said they were somewhat likely to donate, eight per cent it was very likely, 33 per cent said it was not very likely and 27 per cent said it was not at all likely.
The report makes four recommendations to help revitalize local media in Canada.
- Create a non-profit “Report for Canada” organization similar to a model that has been successful in the United States, matching Local Journalism Initiative funds with donations controlled by an independent board for three-year terms,
- Introduce a tax credit to incentivize local business to advertise with independent local media,
- Direct a portion of government advertising funds towards local publishers and broadcasters, similar to what Ontario did recently and
- Encourage community foundations and private foundations across Canada to support local news organizations.
