Bill C-18, the Liberal government’s pending Online News Act, will give the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) power to determine if media organizations follow a certain “code of ethics” in order to be eligible for news-sharing negotiations with large digital platforms, a Senate committee recently heard.
Scott Shortliffe, the CRTC’s executive director of broadcasting policy, appeared before the Senate Standing Committee on Transport and Communications on May 2 to speak on matters relating to the pending legislation, as first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter.
Bill C-18 is currently under Senate committee consideration after it passed the House of Commons in December 2022.
Shortliffe told Senators that, if it passes, Bill C-18 will give the CRTC jurisdiction to “administer a process to help parties reach commercial agreements,” but not to “regulate the news industry in order to determine what news Canadians receive or how they receive it.”
One of the eligibility requirements says the CRTC must determine if the outlet is “either a member of a recognized journalistic association and follows the code of ethics of a recognized journalistic association” or has its own code of ethics “whose standards of professional conduct require adherence to the recognized processes and principles of the journalism profession.”
Simons asked Shortliffe how the CRTC would interpret the clause so as not to impose a specific ethics conduct code on independent media organizations.
“I think our interpretation of Section 27—and I’m assuming, of course, that it passes as written—is that we are meant to assure that it is a viable journalistic organization,” Shortliffe replied.
“We'll have to get precise on that as part of our public consultations,” he added.
Shortliffe also said the CRTC’s understanding of the clause is that there “should be clear definitions” that are neutral in their application across various media outlets.
“They should not be written in such a way that they either include or exclude a particular kind of news organization, as long as that news organization can show that it is a viable news organization.”
Shortliffe also told the committee that while the government outlines a number of eligibility requirements in the bill, the “onus” will be on the CRTC to define those requirements in outlining a process for news-sharing negotiations.
“This is not a bill that is designed to ask us to administer a policy,” he said. “It is asking us to administer a process.”
