That’s a subject for discussion according to B.C. scholar and author Marc Edge.
He is on the verge of launching his new book, titled Tomorrow’s News; How to fix Canada’s media, which will be his latest of seven publications delving in the media, not just in Canada but in countries abroad. “I have some suggestions, which I am putting forward in this book. One avenue is to go non-profit, which takes some pressure but looking at instances in the U.S. it’s not always the way. A lot of the non-profits are funded by foundations and foundations are funded by rich people. They fund them as a means of avoiding taxes and they decide where they would like to see that money go.”
Edge feels that Canada, through Canada Revenue needs to loosen the rules on news media achieving charitable status. In the States there are some, but as Edge said “their rules are far stricter when it comes to political partisanship and objective reporting.” “The companies making the highest profits on the internet, in Canada, are not Google or Facebook or such,” Edge said, “but wholly owned Canadian corporations like Rogers or Bell or Telus, the telecom companies. They’re making about 50 per cent profit margins on internet access.”This fund would not just fund newspapers but would fund various different media.