Good morning. Madam Chair, honourable members of the committee. Thank you for inviting the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, or PIAC, to appear this morning to discuss the media and local communities. My name is Alysia Lau, legal counsel at PIAC; and with me is Geoff White, external counsel to PIAC.
PIAC is a non-profit organization and charity that provides legal and research services on behalf of consumer interests, including vulnerable consumers. In communications policy, PIAC advocates for fair and affordable access to a diversity of programming that serves Canadians' needs. PIAC has intervened extensively in CRTC proceedings relating to broadcasting policy and on numerous broadcasting licensing and acquisition matters, and in television in particular.
PIAC has one key message for the committee today. Local television is important, and it can flourish in the future. To achieve this, PIAC has three specific recommendations.
Number one, private broadcasters must fulfill their promises to provide local programming, and especially local news. Any funding support should be allocated in a way that is accountable; prioritizes small, independent stations; and focuses on encouraging local stations to develop sustainable business models.
Number two, CBC/Radio-Canada needs to be a strong public broadcaster with a mandate to be engaged with and even extend service where necessary to local communities.
Number three, the importance of non-profit community media must be recognized in policy and supported in funding.
Despite changes in the way Canadians access local programming and local news, local television remains important to Canadians. This is especially so for many rural communities that may not be connected to broadband. Local television continues to be a vital link to the rest of the country.
A 2014 poll commissioned by the CRTC found that 81% of Canadians said local news was an important type of television programming, and 53% said that local programming generally was important.
In the U.S., a 2015 Pew Research Center study found that nearly nine in 10 residents follow local news closely, and local TV was still the dominant source of local news in all three cities studied. The majority of respondents accessed local news on local TV combined with or separate from the web or social networking sites.
Even with the growth in online-only news sources, news produced by so-called traditional media such as print and television still played the dominant role in keeping democratic institutions accountable. Even the top news websites in Canada are online versions of traditional news media, such as the CBC and the CTV.