There are now more ways than ever to find news.
Some of you may be reading this because you found it on our home pages. Some of you may be reading this because you clicked on the headline in our email newsletter. But likely a lot of you are reading this because you saw it as a Facebook post or found it through Google.
Going forward, we’re preparing for the possibility of those last pathways being cut off.
A dispute between the federal government and two of the world’s biggest tech companies — Meta (which owns Facebook and Instagram) and Google — has led to both of those internet giants threatening to block Canadian news content across their platforms.
Federal legislation — Bill C-18, called the Online News Act — that was passed into law but has yet to take effect would require those companies to pay news organizations like ours to host stories and content. Instead, they’ve indicated that they will respond by implementing a news blackout.
That means that our posts won’t be found on your Facebook feed, and you won’t be able to share links to our stories. It also means that our stories won’t show up in Google search results, effectively vanishing us from two of the most popular and widely used internet portals.
For many years, Facebook and Google have helped us connect with you — our audience. For example, as of today, our TBnewswatch Facebook page has more than 45,000 followers, and our NWOnewswatch and SNnewswatch Facebook pages have been vital as we increase our focus on the entire Northwestern Ontario and Superior North regions.
I don’t know what will happen. Maybe the government will review and amend its legislation, maybe Meta and Google will change course, or maybe some common ground can be found before this happens. Hopefully this editor’s note ultimately ends up becoming a moot point. But that is largely out of our control.
Instead, what I want to do is to ask you — our loyal readers — to stand with us. I’m proud to be a part of a team of Dougall Media journalists dedicated to local news. Sharing the stories of the people and events, successes and challenges, and issues that matter across Northwestern Ontario is important to all of us. We are a credible, trusted, regulated news source staffed by people who live and work here. In today’s day and age of misinformation or fake news and the development of artificial intelligence, this is more important now than ever before. We want to be able to continue doing our work, and we want you to continue to follow us.
We expect that these changes will mean that fewer people see our stories. That means fewer people will be engaged with what’s happening in our communities.
If you want to stay informed and up to date with our local news coverage, there are a few things you can do:
- Subscribe to our free local email newsletters that delivers all of our headlines to your inbox.
- Continue to visit our TBnewswatch, NWOnewswatch and SNnewswatch home pages and bookmark them in your internet browser.
- Sign up for a free user account
There is one thing of which I am certain. We are not going anywhere. We will continue to be your trusted local news source, sharing the stories that matter to you and our communities.
Our coverage is not changing. The only thing changing is how to find us.
While you might not be able to find our stories on TBnewswatch, NWOnewswatch and SNnewswatch by scrolling your Facebook feeds, or searching us on Google, we really hope you’ll continue to follow us.
Matt Vis is the managing editor of TBnewswatch, NWOnewswatch and SNnewswatch