Canadians’ confidence in news media has continued to decline, with just 32 percent saying the information presented by news outlets is “accurate and impartial,” according to in-house research by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).
“Impressions of the quality of content has decreased for nearly all sources compared to the baseline, and fewer Canadians express trust in the news media, express satisfaction with Canadian television programming, and feel reflected in content currently available,” said CRTC
research based on interviews with 2,541 Canadians between Feb. 14 and March 29.
Trust in the media has fallen by 4 percent compared to 2023, while satisfaction with the quality of news coverage has fallen by 6 percent, according to the report, which was first covered by Blacklock’s Reporter.
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Only three in 10 of those polled said they are satisfied with the quality of information and analysis being offered by Canadian news media, are satisfied with Canadian television programming, and feel “reflected in content currently available,” said the report.
Respondents said they get their news primarily through video sources, followed by audio and other media sources. Their satisfaction has decreased for most types of “entertainment” content and all types of “news and information content,” according to the CRTC report.
The report also found that Canadians aged 65 and older and Francophones were more likely to say they trusted news media to provide accurate and impartial information.
Privy Council
research from March 2023 found few Canadians were in favour of the federal government’s prioritizing subsidies for news media, finding only a “small number believed that the news industry in general should be a top priority at present.” Many respondents said they felt the federal government had more pressing issues to focus on such as housing affordability and the cost of living.
When the focus group participants were told a number of news outlets had cut jobs or become insolvent, many expressed indifference, according to the report.
That Privy Council report also asked about support for Bill C-18, the Online News Act, which was passed by Parliament last June. The legislation
mandates that tech companies pay Canadian media outlets for news content linked on their platforms, but has inadvertently resulted in Canadians losing access to news content on Meta’s two platforms: Facebook and Instagram.
The report found participants were “mixed” in their reactions to the legislation, with most in northern Quebec supporting it and almost all respondents based in Toronto and mid-sized cities opposing it.
