Canada is two years into a news media bailout that was lobbied hard for by the country's newspapers. As it turns out the money that's flowed has had uneven impacts on the industry. And last week the Online News Act was tabled that will mandate tech companies - like Google and Facebook - to pay news companies compensation for posting their content on their sites.

Will this expansion of government news aid inflame disparities? Will it help an industry in crisis? Are we destined for a media landscape where government approvals are the only way to survive?

Featured in this episode: Colette Brin, journalism professor at Université Laval; Tim Bousquet, editor-in-chief of the Halifax Examiner; Emma Gilchrist, editor-in-chief of the Narwhal

Further reading:

• Feds to force tech giants like Facebook, Google to pay for news with new bill, Global News
• Just How Extreme is Bill C-18?: It Mandates Payments For Merely Facilitating Access to News, Michael Geist

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