Mendicant MEDIA Moguls

Vice: (Nat. Post Columnist Andrew) Coyne is correct to observe that the newspaper chains are largely the authors of their own disaster.


Mendicant Media Moguls

... Will shovel patronage for  gourmet lunch money

Nat.Newswatch: New tax credit could pay for two months access to online news sites

• ... the government believes the tax credit is needed to encourage more Canadians to subscribe to online news and help media organizations transition to a more sustainable business model.
• Tax credits to encourage behaviour are common, with everything from home ownership to volunteerism promoted by offering various credits ...

Stop right there! Home ownership and volunteerism are a far cry from newspaper mogulism! To attempt to equate the perceived hardships of the obviously wealthy corporate media with basic human necessities and altruism is a gross insult to the taxpaying Canadian!

And then there's the implication that we plebes don't appreciate a perk when we get one:

• In 2017 the Liberals eliminated a tax credit for public transit passes that was introduced by the former Conservative government in 2006 to encourage people to use commuter buses and trains more often. Two separate studies on that credit, one from the University of Ottawa and another Saint-Mary's University in Halifax, determined there was little to no impact on the use of transit as a result of the credit.

Could that be because transit fees keep rising, or maybe because the buses and trains are perpetually late in departing and arriving? Or because it's much cheaper and less polluting to car pool?

Why not let politicians (who often seem to retire quite wealthy) and media personalities (who are awarded seats in the Senate and retire with generous pensions -- or are transformed into royalty) take a few hundred dollars less each week and put it toward free transit passes for everybody, especially including local city transit, and then maybe more people might be willing to put up with the perpetual unreliable service. (I don't know if the trains in Nazi Germany were a free service to commuters, but it's common knowledge that they at least ran on time.)

And while we're at it, let's talk about taxis. It used to be that you called a taxi and it soon arrived. I've waited an hour for a taxi and ended up missing a train because the taxi driver ignored the dispatcher and chose to pick up fares on the street instead. I've been stranded at the terminal after a long bus ride because all of the taxis were waiting for fares outside the pubs. I saw them there as I walked home in the rain.

I've been left sitting for an hour in the lobby of a nursing home after tending to my mother who had fallen and injured herself, and when the taxi did finally appear the driver told me he had almost decided to go elsewhere!  I would have happily taken a city bus, but it was late on a Sunday and there were no buses running.

I can understand people saying, "up your pittance for public transit travel".

Maybe it's time to improve public transportation, period -- especially if carbon pollution is a true concern, and not just a method of paving the way for car manufacturers to sell a whole new, more expensive, yet apparently cheaper-to-produce product.

• The ... goals set out by policymakers to ban combustion would go much deeper to fully transform the industry. 

Already automotive plant closings are putting Canadians out of work, further signaling a shift to self-driving, electric vehicles.

Back to the government's proposed sop to the media:

• The Conservatives are livid at the government's media package, arguing the Liberals are trying to buy journalists off ahead of the next fall's federal election.

For once, I agree with the Cons, although it doesn't take a lot of brain power to come to that conclusion.  John Hinds, CEO of News Media Canada (Who You Gonna Trust? Newspapers!), gives the plot away:

• ... there are still a lot of details to be worked out such as which subscriptions would be eligible ...

They'd better hurry, because the moguls are playing musical chairs as we speak. Take the Canadian Press, for instance, which originates many of the news stories we see at various news sites, and prides itself on "credible, compelling storytelling".

Freudian slip, "storytelling"?  It's common parlance for fiction. But what a lovely name, "Canadian Press".  Makes you feel that it's ours, eh? And honest and impartial.

But, of course, it's always had to please investors, and since April of this year the Canadian Press has given up ownership to The Globe and Mail, Square Victoria Communications Group (La Presse), and Torstar (The Toronto Star).

That deal must have cost a pretty penny; little wonder they're hoping the government can drum up more readership. They have to achieve this while the Libs are in power, because if the Cons take over, we'll be looking at government aid for outlets like Sun Media and Post Media (of Conrad Black notoreity).

On the bright side, the merging of the Lib outlets means that's literally just one newspaper instead of three you'll have to read to get the desired Trudeau slant ahead of the upcoming election.
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