Over 250 news outlets have closed in the last decade. Canadian journalism faces some unique challenges, including:
- Being so close to the U.S most Canadians play close attention to events happening south of the border. Therefore, large American companies like The New York Times are gaining more paid readers than Canadian newspapers.
- The impact of Google and Facebook is not unique to Canada only. However, the adoption rate of social media platforms in Canada is high. And the duopoly takes 75% of digital revenues away from Canadian media companies.
- CBC receives $1.2 Billion public funding while also competing directly against private companies for digital ad dollars, and thus creates an uneven playing field.
- Bilingual resources add extra cost. There are probably many great stories reported in French in Quebec that don’t reach English speaking Canada and vice versa.