Journalism Support Manitoba 2025

It seems ironic that the Manitoba government would advertise meetings on journalism in the province by buying advertising on social media owned outside of Canada. Not surprisingly, the first meeting had no one attending because they didn't hear. None of the social media is based in Manitoba nor does the ad money spent there stay in Canada. That isn't to say that all aspects of social media are bad but it is often a dumpster fire.  The artificial intelligence is now allowing for racist and abusive material that even freedom if speech supporters must feel queasy about. The outright propaganda from outside the country is very alarming.

Governments have legitimate reasons to advertise. For example, the changes to Winnipeg Transit are being advertised on social media. It is unclear whether this is just a general information release or paid advertising. Certainly the Recycle Everywhere ads are paid advertising when they appear on social media. In fairness though, Recycle Everywhere ads appear to spread out among local media.

Ontario has several initiatives in place to support local journalism and media. It is usually redirecting money from social media that is now owned in Canada to media that actually is owned and covers regional content. It is the money the government already spends but now being spent in Canada. It is not a subsidy.

Freedom of speech has never been to allow crying fire in a crowded movie theatre. In recent weeks the content on TikTok on politics has been awful. I long deleted my Twitter account even before Elon Musk bought it. Even then it was becoming a bit repetitive and less reliable. And sometimes fairly reactionary. I'll admit to sometimes getting into it online but I don't recall ever being outright cruel or piling on someone. I continue to blog and generally the response time for people can be months and years later. I'm okay with that.

It used to be newspapers had a lifespan of a day or two, a week tops before they went in the bottom of the birdcage or out with recycling. However, digitally, a story could be read weeks, months and years later. One doesn't have to wait for it to be available at the public library. But what happens when you local newspaper, radio station, TV station, magazine or other media shuts down with nothing to replace it? Even the archived material on websites aside from the waybackmachine disappear. 

Communities, like Brandon, that continue to grow in Manitoba have lost their TV station, weekly newspaper and lack talk radio. They still have a daily newspaper that has Manitoba ownership. Sadly, many Manitoba communities have lost their only local sources of news, weather and sports. And the only archive of it might be in the local museum if it is in print. 

There is a local news initiative funded by the federal government to assist in salaries for specific regional coverage. Both the Winnipeg Sun and Free Press get this funding.  There is also funding coming from social media giants for content they use from local media. The government has had to push for this because these large companies have been using content without paying for it. 

There are some that are opposed to any government involvement but government has posted ads and notifications in media for decades with no editorial interference. Those have dried up as has private advertising. Large foreign social media hoovers up all that revenue. 

There is a lot the Manitoba government can do to help and much of it is what they did before social media and that is advertise in local radio, TV, newspapers and podcasters. Fortunately, for Manitoba there is a lot of Manitoba-owned media to support. This isn't true all over Canada. The national Post Media group which includes newspapers all over the country is American-owned. Our Winnipeg Sun is Manitoba owned but still gets a lot of content from the American-owned National Post. Something to keep in mind when the Sun asks for CBC to be defunded just so private media owned by Americans can be more profitable and send those profits south of the border.

The ties to the Republican party in the ownership group that has majority shares in the Postmedia group pushes for ever more conservative reporting. And this is the group that pushes for the end of the CBC and is generally closing their own newsrooms each year.

Thankfully, Manitoba still has a locally owned media that the province of Manitoba can support.

Here are the main ways it can support local:

1. Set a fixed amount of government and Crown corporation advertising money that is already being spent on Manitoba-based media. Makes that list of approved media available to to municipalities and private interests.

2. Create a tax credit for those approved media for anyone buying advertising on various platforms. Not sure what sort of cap should be on that spending if any.

3. Supports for changing media to a non-profit where the absence of support may result in the closure of that media. In fact, make it possible to create different types of ownership for media.

The failure to do anything could see more closures. Thompson, for example, has lot both its print papers. Any of the above supports might have helped those paper survive.

Politicians might have a love hate relationship with media but if the local media completely disappears, it can result no local coverage of what is important to the area that supports local business, news, weather and sports. The fact that an all party committee is looking for answers shows that this isn't just a business decision anymore. It is a matter of concern when an area just gets abandoned in favour of companies that are not even Canadian. 

Janet Stewart to Leave CBC News for CBC Radio Noon

Announced by Janet Stewart herself, she will be taking over CBC Radio Noon for the Majorie Dowhos who will be on maternity leave for a year. Stewart's job, which she has held since 2007, has been posted internally. Stewart has said she would still be doing anchoring from time to time but it is clear the radio job is something she has worked comfortably in over her career.

Stewart was CTV News local anchor prior to her long time position at CBC. She served in that job from 2001 to 2006. The latest ratings periods are unknown but John Sauder, the long time meteorologist at CBC, departed in retirement several weeks earlier. There have been a series of people on the anchor desk over some weeks but it is likely the position will attract interest from a variety of people both in Winnipeg and in other CBC positions in Canada. It is also possible that the job will attract outside CBC interest as well.

CTV has been the highest rated TV News locally but has been badly wounded by losing their noon, weekend and holiday newscasts.. Global and CityTV also have news divisions so there could be a shuffling of how each approaches the changes.

Anchor jobs at CBC don't come up often. CBC Radio where Stewart is heading has been number 1 for several years and has a strong news department. The time for CBC to reclaim first in local TV news will lie in a makeover for the news in people and format. It will be interesting to see what they intend on doing.

CTV Cuts 4,800 Across Canada

CTV blames the federal government for the 4,800 cuts and the loss of noon hour and weekend news shows. They received $40 million from the federal government just last year. They cited uncertainty in the regulatory system. What they wanted was to get out of the news business for the network except for Toronto while holding onto their licenses across the country. To be clear, the company is reporting hundreds of millions of profit in the last quarter and an increase in dividend for the 20th straight year.

Last year, CTV gutted their evening news broadcast and cut reporters in London, Washington, Los Angeles and in Ottawa. In Winnipeg they shuttered AM radio station 1290 which was presenting comedy and titled Funny. It was ranked last in the ratings. No radio stations lost this time in Manitoba but 45 sold across the country. More on that later on.

Now, CTV isn't the only one making cuts. CBC and Global have also cut. Newspapers as well like Toronto Star. Postmedia too which includes Winnipeg's Sun newspaper. The cuts in Winnipeg are such that they don't send a reporter to cover the Jets or Bombers when they are out of town. Is it is no wonder teams hire their own reporters now?

Some critics are saying that Bill C-11 and Bill C-18 which try to get online companies like Facebook and Google to pay into a system that supports journalism are to blame. Google will pay $100 million and Facebook has opted out and blocked Canadian media. Assuming a new Conservative government ends these bills and dissolves the the CBC and allows CTV, Global and others to drop all news in favour of U.S. programming, what will we actually have in Canada? In all likelihood, no Canadian programming at all in news, sports, music, drama, comedy or weather. 

It is highly probable that the Canadian companies would ask to be sold to U.S. or international players since their argument is their is no economic basis for anything Canadian to exist. Is Canada economically not viable? In our quest to have products from all over the world in Canada including cultural, does this mean Canada really produce anything that Canadians and the rest of the world wouldn't like?

It should be pointed out that all over the world, digital giants are changing every cultural industry. Companies are merging over and over again, often to the detriment of workers, other industries and countries themselves. Monopolies have been broken up over the decades because by their very nature they are not competitive. In some cases they are anti-democratic. There likely would not have been an Internet as we know if AT&T had not been broken up.

CTV wants out of the news business. In two years they have cut nearly 10,000 workers. If capitalism can't be part of the grand bargain of providing a public service then government has no choice but to intervene. It goes back to the point above about whether there is a business case for Canada's very existence. And if there is, what is the consensus on that?

For the government, the question is how to support journalism without it becoming state journalism? If it is radio or TV, listen to or watch it. The advertisers will support it without you having to pay for it. If you can afford it, subscribe to a newspaper or magazine. The government can support directly or indirectly. Directly, by money to media or indirectly by tax supports to advertisers to buy ads locally.

Winnipeg is lucky in that it has one of the last large independent newspapers in the country in the Free Press. They have at least one reporter travel with the Jets and the Bombers which is now unusual in Canada. Sadly, they don't have an Ottawa-based journalist now. The Winnipeg Sun makes it a two newspaper town. The city has a digital news service with ChrisD.ca. There are a number of ethnic newspapers. CJOB remains largely a news, sports and information station. CBC Radio and Television have fair sized newsrooms. CTV has quite a few reporters in Winnipeg although they no longer cover sports or have a national correspondent. Global and City have smaller units but do their part on covering the city. And let's not forget the APTN News team based in Winnipeg. The Athletic has a Winnipeg-based NHL reporter.

The podcasts from sports to news such as Illegal Curve, Hustler's Winnipeg Sportscast, The Great Canadian Talk Show are covering Winnipeg in detail. All of those reporters once worked in radio in Winnipeg. There are a few music podcasts as well. And Tik Tok has a few influencers out there who cover things in the city.

However, where do young people get their news? When it comes to local stuff, it seems probably Tik Tok. Or other social media such as Discord, Telegram, Instagram or many others. Those social media sites can be hit and miss and for those that do have news in them, they probably source it from other news gatherers and only do a little research themselves on it or express an opinion on it. While this is useful and interesting, it may put you in algorithm that reinforces that point of view.  It is hard to know what is true since deep fakes in music, politics seem to be first tested out on social media. And now AI has got everyone scared since it can cause outright harm equivalent to shouting fire in a crowded movie theatre.

CTV's cuts hurt when the level of talent, loss of regional and international correspondents and variety of areas journalists cover is taken into consideration. I like a number of choices for news and information. But how do we ensure Canadian voices get heard and how do you monetize it? Most of the industrialized nations have some form of public broadcasting support. Even NPR and PBS in the U.S. receive over a billion in direct federal support through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The support rises if the 100% tax-free savings donors get from their donations by the U.S. government is counted. Even Manitobans donating to Prairie Public (Manitoba) receive a tax deduction although many other jurisdictions of Canada have lost that ability. About 1/4 of Prairie Public's budget comes from Manitoba. 

The Conservatives under Pierre Poilievre have said they want to end the CBC. They haven't indicated if they support a PBS Canada model either. If they end all public support for CBC, for news of any kind, it is possible we see most if not all radio and TV collapse in Canada? In comparison to 20 other industrial countries, Canada ranks near the bottom for public broadcasting as well as cultural spending. Ending public broadcasting would put Canada below the U.S. is spending.

This could politically backfire for the Conservatives if Canadian media groups become absorbed by U.S. or international interests who might not want to spend money on hockey broadcasts or Canadian Olympic coverage. This isn't a wildly speculative thought. If Bell Media is angling to be sold outside of Canada decisions will be made outside of Canada. ABC/ESPN and Turner  do not cover as much of hockey as Canadian channels do. What happens when there are no Canadian channels? I can't imagine that would be too popular in Canada. 

Bell Media and CTV have to figure out how to turn things around. Becoming a pure play streaming company to escape Canadian regulation seems doubtful if even big companies like Paramount can't make money at it. Seems radio and TV and cable are more profitable by far. And Bell Media knows this because they keep increasing the dividend each year.

Pierre Poilevere To End CBC If Elected

By Manning Centre c/o: Jake Wright - Flickr, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32870907

The leader of the Official Opposition has made it is mission to defund the CBC. For his base supporters, this has been an objective for decades. In actuality, he wants to defund English CBC while keeping Radio-Canada which would require a change to the Broadcast Act. And likely an explanation why Canadian taxpayers should support one over the other.

The defund the CBC platform is right on the Conservative website. But why not Radio-Canada in Quebec? The answer is votes in Quebec. The Conservatives need to find votes there or some way to win a majority. The big question is whether Quebecers will believe that Conservatives would actually stop defunding at English CBC and not continue to gut the whole corporation.

Outside of the Conservative party, it is unclear whether is support for ending CBC. In recent weeks, Poilevere has been trying get Twitter to classify CBC, among others, as government funded. He succeeded in doing so and says this is evidence of the network being a propaganda arm of the Trudeau government. This is an accusation he has made against all forms of media in Canada for twenty years. It is a dubious accusation because he has never able to show marching orders coming from the Liberal government to slant stories. His argument is that it is self evident which requires no proof. This may be adequate for the base but to win an election on this will require a little more substance.

People will want to know what actually happens if the CBC is actually closed. Does it include radio? Does it include northern Canada? Will assets be sold to the private sector? Will Hockey Night in Canada have less of a reach in the country where some places won't be able to get it without difficulty? Will government support also be dropped for other print, radio and TV. Will Canadian content guidelines and ownership rules be eliminated?

One question leads to another and even some who might be allies ideologically with the Conservatives might come to realize implications beyond a victory of seeing the CBC ended. The big companies that own the media, including the Sun and Postmedia, also receive money from the government. Ending the CBC doesn't necessarily help if it ends their supports too. And if their supports remain, the base of the Tory party might ask why. Quite simply, the Conservatives will have to explain why they pick winners and losers for support. Keep in mind the Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg Sun and all the private stations including CJOB receive some sort of government money, protection or support. Does everyone get cut off? And if they do and news rooms shut down around the country, does this serve the nation well?

As for cozying up to Elon Musk and Twitter, it seems seeking legitimacy in someone who receives government money for Tesla as well as SpaceX while devaluing his overpaid asset in Twitter, is shortsighted. I left Twitter some time ago. I'm not sure what the future is there and who knows if anything will survive AI. Even Elon Musk is afraid of AI because the veracity of real human beings on the site is near impossible. A blue check make might not keep AI from flooding a site like Twitter with inhuman conversations.

But back to CBC. it seems to generate the same hatred in the far right that Trudeau does. It is a deep and ferocious anger that is slightly deranged which is ironic because that is what they often accuse the left of in terms political leaders on the right. One wonders what happens if they truly get their wish and end CBC's existence if that will make them happy. Or will they be like the dog chasing bumpers finally catching one and then not knowing what to do with themselves after as in the case of conservatives defeating Roe v Wade in the U.S.

In the case of the U.S, some Republican are wondering now that they have achieved their goal on abortion, how do they win elections after if the feeling is that they are the wrong side of how Americans actually think? For Conservatives in Canada, if they achieve a majority and end the CBC, do they find that the decision produces another majority or makes them a one term government? Do they care? I suppose they should because as demonstrated by south of the border, elections have consequences. And if your record is one of competent governance, fighting culture battles seems a waste of time and energy.

The $1.2 billion in government funds and the $500 million of commercial revenues helps run a coast to coast to coast network. Eliminating English CBC means that Radio-Canada won't have source material to provide nation-wide information in Quebec. Presently, no other network does that. And in the north, will resources still be left if place there for non-English and French programming? Or do they only get information from the south...in non-native languages? 

If Conservatives become the government, actual legislation has to be introduced to indicate what the plan is. Will the network be sold? Will assets be sold? Will the government allow international players to come in buy CBC, other Canadian networks? Will they eliminate Canadian content regulations? Will they eliminate Canadian ownership rules? It is can of worms where the outcome is unknown. Will it end up with U.S. owned media that eliminates all news in Canada and even hockey coverage because there is no mandate to produce content made in Canada?

While it might appear to be controversial bringing attention to this policy of Pierre Poilevere, it is something that he brings up in every speech. Not Ukraine, but this. He wants his policy to be known and in the absence of a defined way a Conservative government achieves this, we can envision almost anything. It is no wonder that Conservative MPS in Quebec don't want to say anything on this. They are literally hiding under their desks as Radio-Canada remains popular in Quebec. Even if this branch of CBC is preserved, questions about what changes to the Broadcast act and budget will invariably have to be discussed. 

It is possible the Conservatives believe they lost the last elections, including the one when Harper was prime minister, because of the CBC and the media. His supporters seems to think so and it isn't likely anyone can convince them otherwise. It is not much different than Republicans believing the election results were altered and instigating an insurrection. This belief that media is for the left flies in the face of print media across Canada endorsing Conservatives pretty much across the board. As for TV, they don't do editorial endorsement and every news show have Conservatives on their panels to explain policy.

Sadly, many government and opposition parties are frequently avoiding media and are more reluctant to share any information or take questions. Case in point is Joe Biden has down fewer news conferences than Ronald Reagan. This is deliberate on his part. Canada's House of Commons makes it more difficult to hide from questions. However, Question Period is a poor format for information and is more about talking points. It is why journalism can be so effective. It is this journalism that Poilevere depended on this week to reveal Prime Minister Trudeau's visit to Jamaica to a billionaire's house.

Poilevere reaching out to Twitter feels childish and angry. Elon Musk is pushing all the buttons there while the adults in business are heading for the doors. There has to be some serious concern with Conservatives being a freaking train wreck firing Bank of Canada Governor, ending the CBC and ending all the carbon taxes in the first 100 days and watching some serious responses. Not all of it will come from Canada. Much of it will come from world markets. 

It isn't entirely clear that Poilevere can pivot from Opposition to Government. His permanent campaign of anger and accusation that nothing is working means his approach might be a bull in china shop. It also doesn't bode well for letting his cabinet operate independently. It could very well be him in the Prime Minister's Office not telling anyone what he is doing akin to Brian Pallister. Except, you can expect it to be more of a disaster than a premier ditching WWII ceremonies to go on a tour of Europe and visit businesses without their staff.

If the Conservatives expect to win the next election, they need to look less unhinged. They really don't appear to be able to show they are competent enough to take over for a government that walks into rakes all too regularly. It doesn't look great that they walk into rakes just as much.

CJOB Returns Downtown

On Monday, July 27, CJOB returned to downtown for the first time since 1962. They will be go to 201 Portage Avenue on the 30th floor where they will join their colleagues at CKND Global Winnipeg. It will bring together a significant number of broadcasters in one building on the same floor. In the picture above, 201 Portage is the slender of the three Portage and Main towers. With a touch of green.

The station operated in downtown Winnipeg Lindsay building where they baroadcast at 1340 on the dial from 1946 to 1957. They de-camped to 930 Portage Avenue in 1962 into the basement of what once was a Sun Life insurance office built in 1956. The 10th floor of the Lindsay was pricey and also too small for the growing station.

By 1957 the station was operating at 680 on the dial and Winnipeg was booming. Polo Park was built in 1959 and the second span of the St. James Bridge was complete in 1962. The feeling must have been that all of Portage Avenue was becoming a High Street for the city. The location at 930 Portage in a building still very new must have seemed like a no-brainer even if Postal Station D got the main floor and the windows.

The station grew from its crowded basement surroundings and moved upstairs when Postal Station D moved. From 1948, CJOB always had its sister station with it. It was western Canada's first private FM station. It initially just simulcast the AM signal but eventually came to have its own identity and programming. In 1960 it changed from 103.1 to 97.5 on the dial and took on the Town and Country format. In 1965, the sister station became Canada's first true country station. However, by the late 1970s the format became rock and has been soft to hard to classic as the times dictated.

Peggy FM joined the group of two as a jazz refugee from Canwest in 2007. It went through various incarnations from smooth jazz to Christmas music but currently is a soft rock station. If there is one true-ism it is that radio is a dog eat dog world. Big money can be made and lost. And private radio has felt the influence of satellite, Internet and loss of certain types of advertising as much as any in the entertainment business.

In 2011, all three Corus stations moved to the site of the former CKY TV and radio building. The move was instigated by the need for space and to bring the whole operation into the digital world. At 17,000 square feet and a full floor it was larger than their old site at 930 Portage Avenue

Why the move to 201 Portage? It is likely the space open that can been shared with sister TV broadcaster CKND Global Winnipeg. As part of the Corus Network, the 30th floor of the former TD/Canwest building might bring about a new synergy between radio and TV. Once part of the Asper group of companies, the top floors had Canwest executive offices, newspaper offices and CKND Global Winnipeg.

In 2020, can there by synergy between TV and radio companies? They are different animals and attempts have been made with varying degrees of success. A clever company might be able to utilize the talent they have for commercial success. A dumb company might attempt to gouge and forget that the whole thing falls apart if you don't work on content.

In the end it is very interesting that not since near the end of World War II, media is beginning a slow but steady return to downtown Winnipeg.

Latest Fall TV News Ratings

There was a bit of a dip for all three TV news programs in Winnipeg in this last fall ratings period. CTV News remained on top, followed by Global News and with CBC trailing in third place in the 6:00 timeslot.

TV News Ratings through October/November 2010 6 to 6:30 p.pm.

CTV News 129,000 viewers (130,000 - 2009)
Global News between 37,900 viewers (42,600 - 2009)
CBC News 27,600 viewers (33,800 - 2009)

As mentioned, all the ratings were down in the 6:00 p.m. timeslot. It was a marginal drop for CTV News and bigger drop for Global and CBC.

But does this tell the full story? Not quite.

CBC News has a 90 minute offering.

Here is the CBC News ratings in the hour before:

5:00 to 5:30 p.m. 38,100 viewers (28,500 - 2009)
5:30 to 6:00 p.m. 39,000 viewers (32,900 - 2009)

In both timeslots has seen some fair increases. Put together, it is a fairly good number over last year. Each of those half hours has more viewers than Global's 6:00 p.m. news.

CTV News that has the 6:30 to 7:00 p.m timeslot to itself for local news fared thus:

CTV News 6:30 to 7:00 p.m. 113,300 viewers (117,000 - 2009)

That is down a bit. I'd be curious as to where viewers went. To Coronation Street?

CTV News has a right to be happy but there should be some concern that their numbers in the second hour tail off even in the absence of news competition.

CBC News has a right to be happy because the first full hour of their news has seen this marked increase. The hour where they compete with CTV and Global News is weak though. It may be time to think of a somewhat different approach. Perhaps a long form story in that hour? Maybe a panel of pundits? Longer interviews with the Premier, leader of the Opposition?

The point is that repeating the same things from the previous hour seems to be losing audience for the CBC.

As for Global News...second place and falling numbers means a re-think as well. If CBC News can pull up its britches in the last half hour of their news, it could mean trouble for their team.

As to the quality of the news...CBC tends to be a bit repetitive. Global News tends add too many stories produced elsewhere. CTV is the best overall but can turn a bit fluffy at times.

In short, we have been better served by TV news in years past. It is possible to report compelling news without breaking the bank. Interviews in the studio might be a way to go for a full newshour. For Global News with only a 30 minute format, they should stick to local coverage only. Picking up obvious Toronto created content is not the way to go. And for CBC, try not to be so repetitive.