The providers of news to local communities in Canada, including the Weyburn Review and other news organizations, are facing the loss of online availability of photos and stories to the public.
This is a major blow for every news outlet, as once again the federal government is enacting legislation that benefits no one, and instead will severely impact the news industry, and will severely curtail the ability of the public to see the news stories about their community.
What is the reason for this major development? This is due to the federal government passing Bill C-18, known as ”The Online News Act.”
Through this act, which has not yet come into effect but will within the next six months, Google and Meta (which owns Facebook and Instagram), will be required to pay news organizations for showing links to articles and photos.
The result is, both of those companies have announced that they will be removing all news content in Canada once this bill comes into effect.
This means that the news stories and photos you can currently look for and read on Facebook or through Google searches will no longer be available to you, the reader.
Google calls this payment a “link tax,” and they refuse to pay it, as will Meta. Their solution is to then deprive all Canadians of the access to current affairs, people stories, photos of news events and happenings in their community and in the world.
The ironic thing with the act is, the government explains that this legislation is in respect of online communications that provide news to the residents of Canada. The result of their bill is to effectively kill access to news in Canada, and they indicate no willingness to respond to the concerns of Google and Meta, not to mention the two companies are abandoning Canadians in response.
The Weyburn Review and This Week will continue to post news and photos from the community on our website, and as readers, you are encouraged to check that out and bookmark the site, as well as following us on Twitter.
The news continues to happen, and we will continue to report on the unfolding of our ongoing history, the accomplishments of residents, and the important events and occurrences for residents and businesses of the community.
In the meantime, people can communicate with the government, and with the two companies, to resolve this major disagreement. No one wins with this situation, and the ones who hold the means to walk back the bill is the governing party of Canada.
Both sides need to know this is hurting Canadians, and hurting the very basic right to a free press, which should never happen in a democratic country.
