While the veteran political journalist has endless patience for people in power trying to do the right thing, he can’t stand when a government refuses to see reality. So when Canada’s Heritage Minister reacted with surprise to the suggestion that, despite everything her government’s done for it, the country’s news media is still worse off than ever – well, that’s enough to radicalize a fella.

On this week’s show, Karyn and Jonathan talk to Justin about his dispiriting interview with Pascale St-Onge, why he believes the Trudeau government’s efforts to save the media have been across-the-board failures, and what it would take to actually turn things around for this industry before it finally collapses and takes Canada’s democracy down with it.

Correction: in an earlier version of this podcast it was stated 88 per cent of Canadians did not know Meta had wiped news from its platforms, this has been corrected. The number is 78 per cent.

Host: Karyn Pugliese

Guest: Justin Ling

Credits: Jonathan Goldsbie (News Editor), Caleb Thompson (Audio Editor), Cherise Seucharan (Reporter), max collins (Production Manager)

Further reading:

• Justin Trudeau tried to save journalism. This is why he failed – Toronto Star
• The Local News Research Project
• Old News, New Reality: A Year of Meta’s News Ban in Canada – Media Ecosystem Observatory 

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