The least bad option?

The least bad option? What reporters funded by the Local Journalism Initiative reveal about independence, trust and subsidized news

Presented by Assistant Professor Chris Arsenault as part of the 2026/27 FIMS Seminar Series.

Attend in-person: FNB 4130
Attend online: Zoom link forthcoming

Abstract: As local newsrooms close across the Western world, governments are paying for journalism directly. Since 2019, Canada’s federal government has spent $128.8 million through the Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) to fund more than 400 reporter positions. Critics argue the money undermines journalism’s watchdog role. Polls suggest about three in four Canadians share that worry.

Drawing on interviews with 22 LJI-funded journalists, this talk looks at how reporters understand their independence when the government they cover pays their salaries. None said federal funding stopped them from scrutinizing government or led them to drop a critical story. Two-thirds worried about how the funding looks to the public, but they placed that concern with audiences rather than in their own work. The more direct threat to local accountability reporting came from advertisers. The talk also examines where the program’s design constrains journalism, including story quotas and a local mandate that may limit federal scrutiny. It closes with ongoing research on how LJI policy was made, and on the Canadian Journalism Collective, which distributes the $100 million a year Google pays under the Online News Act.