Northern View Publisher issues Battle Call for support from local governments

The Northern View is looking for support when it comes to recent actions
from global media platform Meta's Facebook

With the social media provider Facebook recently acting on its threat to banish links to Canadian news services, a theme we took note of last week, the publisher of the local Black Press publication Northern View is seeking the support of local government to send a message to Meta, the parent company of Facebook.

The Battle Cry from Melissa Ash of the Northern View came by way of a correspondence to the District of Port Edward Council session for August 8th, in which the hyperbole was strong as the local paper portrayed the call for action towards Meta,  to that of defending democracy.

The  correspondence  provides a snapshot of why the Publisher and Black Press are upset with the Meta move and highlights the talking point of a democracy under attack, while also noting of the service that the paper provides to the region. 

The Key passage from the Northern View's battle plan that of calling on the District to exercise its economic might to send a message to Mark Zuckerberg's organization. 

"We ask that the District of Port Edward use its economic clout and join its provincial and Canadian counterparts and governments around the world that are taking a stand at this crucial time in history to proclaim  that the power to decide how and what information is shared isn't the purview of an elite group of foreign based players, but should be in the hands of democratic governments and the people who elect them"

click to enlarge

The anger at the sudden disappearance of links to their work, while understandable, as who doesn't like free advertising; is curious as it would seem to suggest that their readership isn't quite up on the ability to book mark their website and continue to read their material as they deliver their themes on local information.

Meta, through Facebook is a giant multinational group that has a significant amount of clout, but simply put, it's their playground and barring any form of government intervention, which seems unlikely,  their rules ... 

There is an option available for all of us to stop accessing their site as a communication device, let the marketplace decide the fate of Facebook and its brand and seek out alternative ways to share information.

Meta clearly don't want to buy into the Federal government's latest moves through the legislation of Bill C-18 to help out Canadian media providers with financial compensation. 

Bill C-18 is the latest Federal push into the media industry, serving as a complement to the Federal funding program for local journalism that many organizations, including the Northern View make use of to subsidize their operations.

If the local paper, and the other media players across the region provide for a strong supply of local news on serious issues ...  something that a true review of the work of all of our available media options over a number of months might show to have been a bit of a hit and miss adventure ... not even the Facebook Fatwa should keep a curious audience seeking information on local issues from reading their works.

As for the Port Edward correspondence, it's not clear how it was received, the District has not published the minutes of the August 8th session yet and so far there has been no coverage of Port Edward themes this month in the weekly paper.

The call to side with the Canadian News Media and the democratic principles that have shaped our country has not, as of yet, seemingly made it to the action list for Prince Rupert City Council.

The correspondence from the Besner Block is not listed in the Agenda for tonight's Special Council session, though it may be in the queue for the August 28th Council meeting, that Agenda will be published by City staff on August 25th.

More notes on local media can be explored through our archive page.