The Public Policy Forum (PPF), in partnership with the Rideau Hall Foundation (RHF) and Michener Awards Foundation (MAF), has released The Lost Estate: How to put the local back in local news, proposing urgent recommendations to revitalize the industry.

The report, published last week, is supported by new Ipsos polling of Canadians living in smaller communities. Conducted in January, half of the 1,001 Canadians polled were in towns with populations under 10,000, while the other half were in communities between 10,000 and 100,000.

The polling found that 87% of Canadians believe local news is important to a well-functioning democracy, and they trust local newspapers and radio (85%) over national newspapers (71%) and international online news sites (55%). As local news diminishes, respondents also agreed that less local news leads to less knowledge about the workings of local government, schools and hospitals (61%); 58% said it leads to fewer ties to the community, as well as decreased participation in local events (57%), while 54% agreed it led to a loss of a sense of caring for one another and less demand for local small businesses (36%).

According to Toronto Metropolitan University’s Local News Research Project, Canada has lost 252 net local news outlets since 2008, including 24 closures in the last two years alone.

“Local news is an undervalued player in the media ecosystem,” said Inez Jabalpurwala, PPF president and CEO. “It helps create civic spaces that are needed now more than ever, while also underpinning the very foundation of healthy democracies.”

The report stems from a recent national conference of local news publishers and broadcasters organized by the RHF and the MAF, highlighting factors contributing to the local news crisis, including the failure of non-local corporate ownership models, a collapse of traditional advertising revenues, and Meta’s decision to block Canadian news on Facebook and Instagram.

The report says public policy must not seek to preserve media as we have traditionally known it but rather focus on innovation including employee-owned media, non-profits and startups. Its proposed recommendations include:

• Creating a ‘Report for Canada‘ non-profit organization, similar to a successful model in the U.S., to fund reporters in local newsrooms for three-year terms. Local Journalism Initiative funds provided by the federal government would be matched by philanthropic donations and controlled by an independent board.
• Driving local advertising with a tax credit for local businesses that spend ad dollars with independent, locally owned media.
• Directing a portion of government advertising dollars to local publishers and broadcasters, as the Ontario government did recently by requiring 25% of government ad budgets, including spending by four large provincial agencies, be directed to Ontario-based publishers.
• Mandating a sales notice period to give communities an opportunity to rally support for news outlets that are threatened with closure by corporate owners; and
• Stepping up community foundation involvement: There are more than 200 community foundations across Canada, as well as thousands of private foundations. They should be encouraged to support local news organizations as part of their wider missions to encourage social vitality, community health and local democracy.

The report was authored by Andrew Phillips, former editor-in-chief of the Montreal Gazette and Victoria Times Colonist; Edward Greenspon, PPF fellow and former editor-in-chief of The Globe and Mail; and Alison Uncles, PPF vice-president and former editor-in-chief of Maclean’s magazine.