Publishers want tighter rules for doling out $100 million Google fund

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A coalition of Canadian news publishers is calling for clear, consistent and fair rules around the disbursement of the $100 million Google has promised to inject annually into Canadian online news.

With the amount of cash at stake, “news publishers want to ensure that maximum amount flows to newsrooms to maintain and grow journalism jobs in local communities across Canada,” Maria Saras-Voutsinas, executive director at National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada, said in a press release.

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“The CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission) needs to make sure that the rules are clear to everyone, and the rules are followed by everyone.”

Google announced last week that it signed an agreement with the Canadian Journalism Collective (CJC) to assume responsibility for disbursing the $100 million to eligible news businesses. In a blog post, Jaffer Zaidi, Google’s vice-president of global news partnerships, said the search engine tech giant is confident that the collective’s approach “will support the full diversity of the Canadian news ecosystem.”

A federally incorporated, non-profit created for the purpose of distributing Google’s compensation, the collective was founded in May by a group of independent publishers and broadcasters. The steering committee is composed of a dozen independent media outlets that represent French language, community and Indigenous news, and publications that specifically represent Black and minority Canadians.

Google had invited any groups interested in serving as a single collective to submit proposals on their approach to handing out the $100 million it has agreed to provide to news businesses annually, in exchange for an exemption to the government’s new Online News Act.

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There were two competing bids to manage the news fund — one from CJC, the other from the Online News Media Collective, a consortium led by News Media Canada (which represents hundreds of publications, including the National Post), CBC and the Canadian Association of Broadcasters which, together, encompass about 95 per cent of the news media industry in Canada, said Ryan Adam, Toronto Star’s vice president of public and government relations.

Adam said he found it “frankly fairly perplexing” that Google chose an organization “that has relatively little experience in this area.”

“We certainly have huge issues because, as you’re well aware, the industry is in a fairly vulnerable place, and that Online News Act money is an important part of our business plan moving forward,” Adam said. “We plan on spending it on journalists as per the regulations.

“We’re concerned about the timing of the payments. We’re concerned about the transparency around the administration of the payments, he said.

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In a statement, the CJC’s independent board director, Sadia Zaman, said the collective is committed to distributing the funding in a “fair, transparent and inclusive manner.”

“We look forward to working with the full diversity of the Canadian news ecosystem, including traditional print and broadcast organizations.”

Under the deal, the Google fund is to be allotted proportionately to the number of full-time equivalent employees engaged in the production of news content.

Adam said the the definition of qualified journalist “is quite opaque in the regulations. What I’m concerned about is that organizations who aren’t actually employing full-time journalists will start to flood the count in years going forward.”

“If this collective is transparent and clear about who qualifies and who doesn’t qualify, and they are open with us and they communicate with us, then, moving forward, I don’t think we have a huge problem,” Adam said.

“It’s just that at this vulnerable moment, I think a lot of our news media colleagues have a real concern. Frankly, we’ve seen News Media Canada administer funds in the past. We know they do it openly and transparently and honestly with some accountability. It’s really perplexing to me how this group ended up as the choice. We’re calling for some accountability and transparency pieces.”

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The Liberals put a cap on how much the CBC and other broadcasters can get. Nearly two-thirds of the Google fund — $63 million — is reserved for written media outlets.

In a press release, the coalition of news publishers “representing hundreds of trusted titles” is calling for greater CRTC oversight, including a maximum cap on administrative fees incurred by the collective to no more than 0.5 per cent of the fund, and having the CRTC validate the eligibility of the news business, verify the number of full-time equivalents and impose monetary penalties on any news business that makes a false attestation with respect to their eligibility.

“The CRTC needs to put in place very strict belt and suspenders regulations to ensure the administration of the $100 million from Google is all about thrift, with zero opportunity for grift,” said Paul Deegan, president and chief executive officer of News Media Canada.

Adam Reaburn, a spokesman for the CJC, said the group expects the CRTC to hold a 30-day public consultation on the process after which the CCJ will hold its own consultations with stakeholders.

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Google said the CJC proposal was aligned with its principles that reflect a “diversity of representation, a robust governance structure, a high level of transparency and assurance that as much funding as possible would go to news organizations.”

The Online News Act, formally known as Bill C-18, was introduced in Parliament in April 2022 and became law this month.

The Act requires eligible social media and search engine tech giants that make news content available to reach commercial deals with Canadian news publishers. National Post’s owner, Postmedia, supported the legislation.

Google has agreed to pay $100 million in the first year, indexed thereafter, via a single agreement earmarked for a group of eligible media companies.

National Post, with additional reporting from The Canadian Press

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