COMN Studies Chair, David Skinner (right) and Joint York/Ryerson PhD students platform for funding of local news.
On February 3, Communication Studies Chair, Professor David Skinner, along with PhD students in the York & Ryerson Joint Graduate Program in Communication and Culture -Amanda Oye, Margaret Reid, Joseph Turcotte and Emilia Zboralska – appeared before the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) in Gatineau, Québec at the Commission’s review of the policy framework for local community
television. The hearings explored the possibility of diverting some of the
money earmarked within the broadcasting system for community television to help
finance local news, a business that has been suffering financially over the last
few years. However, the group argued that community television broadcasting has
never been given the opportunity to reach its full potential in Canada and
that, rather than withdraw funds from the sector, more effort should be put to
developing independent community media centres – organizations that would
provide jobs and opportunities for creating a wide range of new media content,
including some forms of local news.