Are Canada's News Podcasts at risk of tech giant retaliation?
Vol. 23 - Leaders in News & Current Affairs Podcasts (and I) comment on Meta and other tech giants ending the availability of news permanently in Canada.
Hihi!! Happy Pod the North Tuesday! 50 days until I take a 30-something-hour-long train all the way from Brantford, Ontario to Halifax, Nova Scotia!
In this issue:
What C-18 means for News & Current Affairs Podcasts, and what Canada’s media outlets think about it.
Canadian Indie: made in
True North Podcast Feature: Driving While Indigenous Podcast
Lots of updates from the ecosystem: summer listens, award winners, launches, and more!
There are currently 28 long-term drinking water advisories in effect in 26 First Nations communities across Canada.
Welp, another Canadian law is after our jawbs.
Okay maybe not quite, but Bill C-18 is certainly causing big tech companies and journalists alike to give their fists a shake.
A month or so ago I released an issue of Pod the North about the passing of Bill C-11, Canada’s Online Streaming Act, and what it meant for Canadian podcasts if tech giants like Google and Spotify were to retaliate.
Could Canadian podcasts actually be deplatformed from some of the biggest podcasting spaces out there? The answer was unclear, and I sort of wrapped up my commentary saying it would be up to the CRTC to take make a move and see how streaming platforms would react.
It seems the Canadian government took the phrase “fuck around and find out” pretty literally when it came to digital law-making.
Recently, the passing of Bill C-18 seemed to be the last straw for Google, and especially Meta.
Bill C-18, if you’re unfamiliar, is formally referred to as “an Act respecting online communications platforms that make news content available to persons in Canada,” — which is actually nicely self-explanatory.
If you’ve been paying attention to Bill C-11 you’ve likely heard about C-18 too, because they have a similar methodology, only C-18 specifically refers to news content on digital platforms. Tech giants like Google (and YouTube?), Facebook, Instagram (and now Threads?) would be required by Canadian law to payout media outlets for displaying Canadian news media. Like C-11, it raises pretty similar concerns for tech companies: forced transparency around their algorithms and… taxes.
For the journalism industry, there’s been major debate around whether this could significantly help journalists finally make a living wage, if the CanGov should just stop meddling around in general, and if passing C-18 it was just too bold of a move; something would just “poke the bear” per say, and make life worse for journalists. I highly recommend checking out the episodes from Tech Won’t Save Us, CANADALAND Short Cuts, and (inside scoop) an upcoming episode of the BetaKit Podcast featuring Jesse Wente to get the full picture of the debates happening in journalism.
Lucky for me, I recently got an idea of how tech companies might react when I discovered this weekend that I have been blocked from seeing content from CBC News on Instagram. "We are proceeding towards ending the availability of news permanently in Canada," recently said Meta’s Head of Public Policy in Canada, Rachel Curran, on CBC’s Power & Politics back in June.
But what the heck does C-18 have to do with podcasts anyway?
Well, considering that according to both data from Dan Misener at Bumper and The 2022 Canadian Podcast Listener Report from TPX, News & Current Affairs is one of the top genres listened to by Canadians, and News & Current Affairs Podcasts tend to be some of the most popular too.
While I’d love to joke about how the only people who get their news from Facebook are all of my 70-year-old neighbours in Brantford, I can’t help but feel like social media promotion and clicks from search engine results actually play a pretty significant role for the podcasts coming from our major news outlets. As many podcasts turn to YouTube, could Canadian media’s news podcasts be kicked out there too? With C-11 in tow, that could deplatforming be inevitable for CanCon podcasts?
Do I care about this too much? Am I spiraling??
In order to find some grounding, I reached out to Canada’s leaders in News & Current Affairs podcasts for comment. Though many were interested in the debate, some hesitated to comment on matters “directly related to these business” at this time. I was lucky to get a response at all!
“We all depend on an open Internet,” a CBC spokesperson told me. “It would be unfortunate if the digital platforms used their dominance to deny Canadians access to news and information. We encourage Canadians to go directly to the websites and apps they trust for their news.”
But it’s not just the big guys who make popular Canadian News Podcasts.
Nora Loreto, Freelance Journalist and co-host of Sandy & Nora Talk Politics, went on to say, “the big tech companies are not friends to small creators and this decision demonstrates just how little they care about local content and news. For my own work, I expect that it will be even harder to get information out, something that has been a trend for more than six months on Twitter and Facebook alike. It forces us to find new tools to reach people but those tools are always limited. It's bad news all around.”
And here's the official statement from the Harbinger Media Network:
As Google and Meta threaten to remove news content, Harbinger will continue fighting for independent progressive journalism and public scholarship with our independent media and podcast colleagues at Alberta Advantage, The Hoser's Short Circuit, The Breach Show, Tech Won't Save Us, Press Progress Sources, The Independent's Berrygrounds and 50 other listener-supported shows across the country.
Our non-profit network of journalists, activists and academics released 470 politically progressive, justice-driven episodes last year and we're on track to break that record in 2023 but Big Tech bullying is really going to affect our reach.
If you haven't already now's a good time to sign up for our newsletter curating links to the latest in new network releases every week at harbingermedianetwork.com and you can help push back against the almost comically villainous scumbags at Google and Meta by supporting the network with a small monthly donation and telling your friends about Canada's #1 podcast community!"
I guess it’s time to update your bookmarks?
So far we’ve only seen backlash from Meta, which hopefully means my Google Chrome bookmark bar is safe — at least for now.
According to an article from CTV News, Google was actually freakishly close to making the same decision as Meta, but in a last minute meeting with Canada’s Heritage Minister, Minister Rodriguez, they “delayed“ the decision, despite having previously “‘aggressively’ pursued Rodriguez so that it could express its displeasure over the legislation.”
Rodriguez wasn’t the only person to meet with Google. CANADALAND’s Jesse Brown got to talk them at the end of June too:
I can’t help but be a little concerned.
With the decision from Google being simply “delayed” and, as Jesse described, the kind of news media that will be affected essentially in TBD-territory by Google themselves, I’m a little worried for Canada’s podcast industry.
Tech giants are mad, and Google and Meta certainly aren’t the only tech giants out there benefiting from traffic to free Canadian News Podcasts. See: Apple or Spotify.
If you’ve got predictions for what we could see for Canada’s News & Current Affairs Podcasts, take them to the comments section on Substack or email me!
Check out this Canadian Indie: made in
Asian-diaspora stories (and beyond).
Evy and Jas discuss the latest pop-culture moments and current events through their lens.
True North Podcast Feature: Driving While Indigenous Podcast
Empowering Indigenous young people.
Jill Featherstone is always in search of ways to reach people on a larger scale.
What’s going on in Canada’s podcast ecosystem:
Of the top 5 podcasts in Canada for May, only one, CBC’s Front Burner, was Canadian.
The Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) has awarded Kuper Island’s Duncan McCue the 2023 NAJA-Medill Milestone Achievement Award.
Vocal Fry Studios has launched an audio version of Vocal Fridays, the weekly newsletter that features industry news, must-listen recommendations, freebies, job listings, skills workshops and wonderful musings from the wonderful Michal Stein (and other talented Fries when Michal needs a vacation)! Vocal Fry Studios Principal, Katie Jensen, hosts the podcast and mixes a whole bunch of fun sound design into. Subscribe here!
Podcast legend, Marc Maron, recently joined Jesse Brown on an episode of CANADALAND, where they talked about (not) moving to Vancouver, and “the differences between Canada and the U.S. when it comes to fascism, comedy, and Jews.” Listen here.
A Let's Make A Sci-Fi live show? Yes please! Catch Maddy Kelly, Ryan Beil, and Mark Chavez at ComedyPRO during the Just For Laughs Montreal Festival on July 26, as they pitch each other ideas for a science fiction movie. Get your ticket here!
Justin Jackson at Transistor.fm crowdsourced recommendations for Stitcher alternatives now that the platform is no longer. Find your new go-to podcast app here. Justin also just release a tutorial on YouTube (edited by his 13-year-old son!) on how to create great-looking podcast cover art using free AI tools. Watch it and give it a thumbs up!
A new, Canadian-made freelance publication for Women of Colour has launched called NAYLA. If you’d like to submit your podcast to be included on the site, email them at nayla.magazine@gmail.com.
The Podcast Exchange has posted a list of its “Five must-listen Canadian podcasts for the summer”. Check it out.
I missed this exciting news in June! Season 4 of Pacific Content’s Teamistry won Best Audio at Tribeca X 2023.
For your pod:
If SEO still matters in the long run for Canadian podcasters, you’ll want to do it right! The Podcast Host just launched a guide to SEO for Podcasters - how to be discovered by your target audience.
Nomination voting is now open for the 18th Annual People’s Choice Podcast Awards! These are “the most votes wins” type of awards, so if you’ve submitted your show, prepare to have a great campaign to go along with it!
has a FREE promo opportunity on right now for podcasters! Leave a five-star rating and review on the Podcast Bestie podcast on Apple Podcasts, and email Courtney a screenshot with your name and the name of your podcast, and you’ll get a free shout-out on the next episode!
Apple’s Podcasts and Books PR person, Zach Kahn, is encouraging you to think about your episode art this summer! In a recent post on LinkedIn, he went on to say, “podcasters — encourage you to develop plans for episode art this summer. We’ll be supporting it for every show on Apple Podcasts when iOS 17 launches this fall. You’re not going to want to be without it.” Catch up on artwork specs here.
Just Joe (ready to be let out of the tent now, please)…
If you have thoughts or Canadian podcasting news, please share with me! Leave a comment or reply to the newsletter email. If you’re feeling generous you can also opt-in to pay for this Substack on a monthly or yearly basis, or just buy me a coffee!
Thanks for supporting Pod the North, I’ll be back in your inbox in two weeks!
Kattie | @Podkatt
(Find me on Twitter, Post, Spotify, and Goodpods)
