At the end of the day, an organization is beholden to those who pay the bills, and if the government is the only thing keeping a media organization alive, the government will control that organization.
We continue to hear more and more calls from much of the media for government bailouts, or for the government to force social media companies to give them money for linking to content.
What this represents is an acknowledgment by much of the media that they have failed to succeed in the free market, and that people are unwilling to voluntarily pay for their services.
In most cases, this would mean that the companies have to change, reduce costs, shift their business model, and adapt.
That’s what the vast majority of Canadians have to do on a regular basis amid a rapidly-shifting economy.
However, some in the establishment media seem to think they are above everyone else, and are instead demanding that the government force you to pay for their work, regardless of whether you want to or not.
Think about this for a moment.
You, and many other Canadians have decided that you aren’t willing to pay an amount equal to the costs of running many media organizations.
Instead of reducing their costs, they simply want you to be forced to pay anyway.
And of course, the government is glad to do so, as they continue to expand government control and government subsidization of the press.
State media everywhere
The result of this will be that state media is everywhere.
Beyond the CBC, the nominally ‘private’ media organizations will be dependent on government action and government money in order to stay in business.
Thus, they will lose their independence.
Reliance on the government means being controlled by the government, and this is what will happen to the organizations that become dependent on the state.
This will further erode democracy and free expression, because state-controlled media by its very definition cannot be independent and cannot truly hold the government accountable.
As this continues to happen, Independent media will be the last line of defense for true accountability, and will be the bastion of those who still believe in speaking truth to power.
Spencer Fernando
Photo – YouTube
