As to the $50 million, the Department of Canadian Heritage will certainly be facing some major challenges in terms of finding an independent organization to administer those funds, since that is not identified in the budget. Even that is a challenge, so I think Canadian Heritage will have to look at this.
As to journalistic independence from the government, I have a few answers. First, the CBC/Radio-Canada has been subsidized by the government since it was created, and I think everyone will agree that it is a model and benchmark for journalistic quality and independence.
In order to avoid the appearance of government interference in the operation of newsrooms, the manipulation of journalistic information or political influence over the news media, we need universal programs that apply to everyone who meets the criteria that define the news media today. This prevents cherry-picking and the appearance of favouritism towards one group or another. That should be the first criterion that is considered when public funds are involved. Of course, the more independent from government that the organization administering those funds is, the better.
In journalism today, people have no more illusions about the future, whether you are talking about print newspaper owners or others. Unfortunately, until there is a new business model that suddenly brings in more revenue to those who are producing news content, we will have to find a way to publicly support the production of news content, while at the same time recovering money from those who are currently making huge profits from our members' work.