Canadian Heritage committee  Maybe it's how do we make sure that GoGaspe.com can survive? Part of what we talk about, whether it's seed money or a fund, is specifically for the GoGaspe.coms of Canada to be able to be viable entities for providing that important local and regional news. If information does ma

Canadian Heritage committee  Right, there are many who are not.

Canadian Heritage committee  How is the association financed? Through membership fees and through sponsorship of our national and regional conventions.

Canadian Heritage committee  It's $100,000.

Canadian Heritage committee  There are 200-plus members, but I'm not sure in terms of their designation, because you don't sign up within a particular category of journalism.

Canadian Heritage committee  I think we made the point this morning that we would like digital, and online, and social media to be part of our code. Our code recognizes the importance of fairness, accuracy, accountability, and integrity. I'm certainly a believer that regardless of the medium in which you are

Canadian Heritage committee  I think part of it is trying to spread the level of accountability that the proponents and those who use social media, who may not be affiliated with news organizations.... Our appeal is to try to bring them under our code of ethics so there is some level of accountability. If

Canadian Heritage committee  Well, perhaps—

Canadian Heritage committee  I'll handle the research part and let Mr. LeBlanc discuss the code. Because to our knowledge there probably isn't contemporary research in terms of what this committee's looking at, we've said that we support that, and I know there are many journalism schools and universities th

Canadian Heritage committee  It is to administer a fund that would help maintain the existence of viable local news. We would need to find money, as we said, in collaboration with industry. We're not sure where it would come from, but once we have have found it and have access to that fund, then our associat

Canadian Heritage committee  Our main link is with the RTDN in the United States. At this time, we don't have any formal links with international organizations. However, as part of our outreach we've actually started working locally with the Canadian Association of Journalists and Journalists for Human Right

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, and thank you for your question. We were in Saskatoon, I believe, in 2006; I think that's the last time we were there. In 2011 when we changed the name of the organization, we also changed the fact that it was not only for news directors, but open to journalists. I would sa

Canadian Heritage committee  On the quality of journalism, I'm not sure I agree with you, sir, respectfully. If our national awards and our local and regional awards are an indication of the quality of storytelling, I think it matches storytelling in journalism anywhere in the world. Where I do agree with y

Canadian Heritage committee  They're looking, in particular, at digital and online metrics. Traditionally, radio and television have based their metrics on ratings. There's a whole new frontier out there for understanding the consumption of local news. Part of our discussions at our national conference next

Canadian Heritage committee  In a lot of newsrooms you may be a radio journalist, you may be a digital journalist, you may be a television journalist, so the lines that are drawn are not that clear anymore. I don't know if we can give you an accurate answer.