Delores Broten:The problem with Facebook

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents -Google and Facebook took in $9.7 billion in advertising revenue during 2020, while the revenues of more traditional news outlets - who produce much of the actual news being posted on Facebook and Instagram - are failing. In response to Bill C-18, which requires them to pay Canadian media outlets a fraction of their advertisement revenues, the dynamic duo will no longer let Canadian news outlets post. 


This was brought home to Cortes Currents on Wednesday, August 2, when Facebook served notice that as a news outlet, Cortes Currents Facebook posts will no longer be viewable inside Canada. 

As only about 10% of my web traffic actually comes through Facebook, my reactions were mixed, but the strongest was curiosity. 


So I reached out to some local media outlets to find out:
 - What is their opinion of the situation?
- How does being cut off from Facebook affect their publication? 


The first to respond was Delores Broten of the Watershed Sentinel.  

“It's essentially a line in the sand for Canadian identity, in my mind. I'm  into that stuff these days because my mother's family's Ukrainian.  We're  focusing on identity destruction these days, but this is part of  that Americanization of Canada that's been going on since the fifties. There were various political movements and attempts to resist it even before that. In about the 1880s, there was a movement saying ‘Canada first.’ It’s always been a constant pressure. You have a big rich neighbor and a little colonial racist country, and we've had some good points, but overall, we have very little to keep this country separate. So with the news media going down, all the news is just going to be Hollywood gossip and Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump,” she said.


CC: Why Should Facebook give Canadian media a portion of its revenues? 


DB: “Why should radio stations pay the artists for their songs? When a radio station plays a song, they're using the artist and the producer and the whole company's work. They pay a royalty for that. ”  


Speaking as a former President of the Cortes Community Radio Society, this statement elicits mixed responses. Most of the artists I (Roy Hales) know are receiving what amounts to the price of a cup of coffee per year, but volunteer run stations like CKTZ cannot afford to pay more. That said, I agree with the principle that she cites, artists should be paid for their work.   


DB: “This is the same thing when Facebook and Instagram use News content that people like me and you and (God love us) Postmedia sometimes pay writers to create.  They're using our work for free. In the meantime, while they're doing that and building their audience, they are taking 10 billion, with a B, 10 billion a year in advertising revenue out of Canada and not paying a single cent of tax.” 


According to the Columbia Journalism Review, Google and Facebook are paying the media in Australia close to $150 million US a year. This has enabled the Australian Broadcasting Corporation to place 50 new journalists in underserved parts of the country. The United Kingdom, Indonesia and South Africa are considering similar legislation, as is the state of California.


CC: What was the remedy that the Canadian government came up with? 


DB: “The government was asking them to put about $250 million towards compensating news organizations.”