OTTAWA – The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) is calling on the Canadian Heritage minister to force the CRTC to re-examine its decision to allow TQS to cut its local news.
The decision illustrates the regulator is not serving the public interest and something must be done, the media union said in a statement.
The CEP is asking the Canadian Heritage minister to send the decision back to the CRTC for reconsideration.
“Having laid off more than half the staff of the TQS network in April, the network’s new owners have told the CRTC they will allocate less than 7% of its total program spending on news, down from more than 27% just last year,” said CEP Vice-President of Media Peter Murdoch. “The CRTC’s decision to allow local news to be slashed instead of requiring properly funded, professionally-gathered news is a blow to democracy that will invite every other broadcaster to cut their costs by eliminating or substantially cutting local news and information.”
TQS proposed not only lower levels of local news, but also proposed filling the local time slots with talk shows and citizen generated programming.
He added that the CRTC is ramming through a decision that contradicts 40 years of its own regulatory policies and precedents.
