[dmix]

The main issue is Canadian politics/news is pretty boring so why would I pay for Globe and Mail or The Star when I can get the main gist from social media? Sometimes your product simply isn't interesting enough to be a big business like it used to be. Propping them up with taxes is just that, propping up something people don't really want. You can never shield them from competition on the internet unless you go full China.

[bearcobra]

Your point on competition is a good one. I find the news interesting, but watching a TikTok is a much easier way to find out what's going on. Not to mention the competition in my feeds to show me the craziest thing that happened in Australia or Morocco today. It's impossible for a single entity to compare with that. I think a major problem that creates is news becoming more sensationalized than before. I think it's also leading to a lot more misinformation (both intentional and not).

That's led me to think that more public funding of media, including privately owned publications, would be a good thing. Information is valuable even when the market doesn't recognize it, and I think we're becoming worse off as the public relies on institutions less and less. A tax on algorithmic social media & search to pay for it seems like a better plan than laws that just result in news being blocked