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Former Clearwater Times editor praises community news longevity

Keith McNeill, former editor for the Clearwater Times, offers his take on how valuable community news was and is

Do you want to avoid higher taxes? Then support your local newspaper, because research shows that taxes go up in towns that lose their local newspaper.

Why is that?

When reporting for the Clearwater Times, I attended almost every town council meeting and practically every Clearwater Improvement District meeting before incorporation. I also attended nearly all school board meetings when we had our own School District No. 26 (North Thompson), Clearwater Chamber of Commerce meetings, regional district meetings, etc. 

I can’t say that I uncovered any great spending boondoggles, but I’m pretty sure that, just because I was there and might ask questions, the local politicians and staff were just a little more careful with their spending than they might have been otherwise.

The Times has been covering local government for 60 years now. Will it be doing the same for another 60 years?

The prospects don’t look good. Small-town newspapers are closing all across Canada and elsewhere in the world. The Times itself is shrinking. Twenty years ago, it was typically a 20- or 22-page broadsheet (and that was a lot of space to fill with news every week). Today, it is usually a 16-page tabloid.

The size of the newspaper is based on advertising. The more column-inches of ads, the more space there is for news. Unfortunately, newspapers and other traditional news media are facing unfair competition for advertising from social media. It is not a level playing field.

It is not uncommon to see posts on social media saying certain persons are liars, thieves, or worse. Perversely, the algorithms that control social media seem to encourage such allegations because they trigger more readership. The owners of social media are getting rich by promoting social discord.

If I had allowed someone to say a person is a liar in a letter to the editor while I was editor of the Times, that person could have sued the letter writer, me as editor, the newspaper, and its owners for libel. No wonder the newspaper owners, Black Press, had regular seminars to update editorial staff on the latest in libel law. If a questionable letter to the editor crossed my desk, I would discuss it with other editors and, if necessary, with Black Press’ lawyer.

In the United States, social media companies are governed by U.S. law. About 30 years ago, the U.S. Congress decided that social media companies could not be sued for libel for what people post on them. In other words, a newspaper can be sued if it publishes a letter saying someone is a liar and a crook, but in the U.S., Facebook and Twitter cannot. 

Things aren’t quite so bad in Canada, but they aren’t good.

In 2023, B.C. billionaire Frank Giustra settled with Twitter after suing the company four years earlier for neglecting or refusing to remove posts that made him out to be “corrupt” and “criminal.”

Twitter argued that the case should be tried in a Californian court because it was based in California. The BC Court of Appeal disagreed, and the trial would have been held in British Columbia. However, Giustra and Twitter came to a settlement, the contents of which have not been disclosed.

This was a wealthy individual with a blatant case of libel, but it took him years to force a settlement against the social media company, and we don’t know if the settlement was in his favour.

This is a threat to our democracy. A person’s reputation is their most valuable asset.

Canada’s Parliament should pass a bill that clarifies that social media companies operating in Canada are subject to Canadian law, particularly the law of libel. That bill should include punitive damages for social media companies that do not take adequate measures to protect the reputations of groups and individuals. 

That would help level the playing field so local news media can survive and thrive. And maybe that will help keep our taxes under control.