Mirage in the news desert

I didn’t see the Twin Towers fall.

I didn’t even hear about it until September 12, when my mom called our tiny Moscow apartment at 6 a.m. local time with a horrible update: terrorists … planes … the world has changed. Word-of-mouth news.

We didn’t own a computer and it would be another decade before smartphones were in everyone’s pockets. That year our main source of news was the radio, which had just two English stations: BBC and the Voice of America. So Allan and I, newlyweds and newly minted ESL teachers, took the Metro downtown and checked the news online. That trip took an hour, which is crazy to think about now.

At the International Peace Garden on the border of Manitoba and North Dakota, there’s an exhibit called The Headlines of History. It has 50 front pages from newspapers around the world published September 12, 2001. The details are a reminder of “how many people were touched by the tragedy.”

If you were to create that exhibit now, you’d find slim pickings on the newsstands. Over 400 community newspapers in Canada have shut down since 9/11. More and more Canadians live in a news desert, without access to reliable local news. As readers migrate to digital platforms, every publication – including Christian Courier – is experimenting with sustainability models. Can new forms of revenue replace lost subscription and advertising dollars?

Enter the Online News Act. In an attempt to help media outlets, the Canadian government passed Bill C-18 in June. The Online News Act mandates that companies such as Meta and Google compensate Canadian news organizations for their content – links that pop up as the result of a search on Google, or articles shared on Facebook, for example. Sounds great, right? Nope. As you’ve probably heard, big tech won’t pony up. The federal solution is just a mirage.

Crisis du jour

On the day I wrote this, “tornado watch” was the most-searched-for-phrase in Canada using Google. The top result had already directed more than 50,000 people to the Montreal Gazette’s site, where they read (for free) about a tornado heading for Quebec. Once C-18 is implemented, that link won’t show up.

Google made close to $60 billion in profit last year. The Montreal Gazette, Canada’s oldest newspaper, laid off 10 percent of its staff this spring. One penny per click – $500 so far today, in the case of the tornado article – would be pocket change for Google and could make a difference to the Gazette. Blinded by the bottom line, however, the tech giants plan to block Canadian news rather than pay – a double whammy for an industry already on shaky ground.

It’s not entirely clear yet how all of this will impact Christian Courier. It feels a bit like we’re players in a dystopian novel, or back in Russia – except instead of government control it’s big tech pulling the strings. CC might fly under the radar, too small to bother with; or we might lose the 70 percent of our website traffic that comes to our site via Google and Facebook.

Where will you get your news?

No news is bad news, no matter what the old adage says. “Democracy dies in darkness,” proclaims the Washington Post’s slogan. “Redemptive plans wither without witnesses,” we might say here at Christian Courier. All of us on staff use our skills as journalists, writers, designers and editors to inspire action, build community and influence culture for Christ. Thankfully our efforts depend on loyal readers and on God’s grace, not Google or Facebook.

If you value Christian Courier’s independent redemptive journalism, sign up for our weekly email newsletter. It’s the best way we have to get in touch with you! Call our 1-800 number and chat with Sarah. Bookmark christiancourier.ca on your preferred web browser. Subscribe in print or give a friend a gift subscription. Email [email protected] with your feedback. Or make a donation, if you found something here you appreciate. Crucially, none of these interactions use Google or Meta! And, lastly, stay tuned for the results of our Summer 2023 reader survey. We’ll keep experimenting with models of sustainability, as long as you keep telling us that our content matters.

“Started reading July 3 CC,” a reader just told me. “No. 3151, 24 pages now. Love reading every issue.” It was a well-timed email from a faithful print subscriber, as welcome as a cup of cool water on a hot summer day. Word-of-mouth encouragement, music to our ears.