Canada Periodical Fund

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The Canada Periodical Fund (CPF) provides financial assistance to Canadian print magazines, print community newspapers (non-daily) and digital periodical. It is a program of the Government of Canada.[1]

History[]

The CPF was introduced in 2009 under heritage minister James Moore, a member of the Harper government; it went into effect a year later.[2] It was designed as a replacement for two existing programs: the Canada Magazine Fund (CMF), and the Publications Assistance Program (PAP), a subsidy on the delivery of Canadian periodicals which predated the Confederation of Canada.[3] The fund was initially budgeted at $75.5 million annually, equivalent to the combined funding of CMF and PAP, most of which was allocated to the publishers of Canadian magazines and non-daily newspapers.[2][4]

Notable differences between the CPF and the funding previously provided through the CMF and PAP included:

  • The amount any individual title could receive was capped at $1.5 million, affecting a few large magazines such as Maclean's.[5]
  • Only periodicals with an annual paid circulation of at least 5,000 were eligible for funding. This requirement was waived for titles published by certain minority groups. Its effect on small literary and arts magazines was particularly noted.[5][6][4]
  • Publications of "professional associations" were no longer eligible for funding. This rendered ineligible titles such as Canadian Medical Association Journal, which received around $650,000 in CMF and PAP funding in 2008–2009.[5]

The amount of CPF funding is a function of a title's circulation, though the heritage department has declined to specify exactly how funding amounts are determined.[7]

The fund was expanded to include non-magazine news sources in 2018 [8] in response to financial losses suffered by news outlets in Canada [9]

Eight organisations administer the fund and "define and promote core journalism standards (and) define professional journalism":[9] News Media Canada, the , the , the , the Canadian Association of Journalists, the , the Unifor union, and the .[8]

In order to qualify for the fund "60 per cent of the content must be written" and "50 per cent of a news outlet’s content must be original news content". Should the CRA question the eligibility of a subsidy beneficiary, a "Second Panel of journalism experts from post-secondary institutions" would consult.


References[]

  1. ^ Rusnell, Charles (27 April 2020). "Financially struggling newspapers to get federal money within weeks, heritage minister says". CBC.
  2. ^ a b McCracken, Deirdra (17 February 2009). "The Government of Canada Creates Canada Periodical Fund to Better Support Magazines and Community Newspapers".
  3. ^ Gulli, Cathy (20 January 2009). "Cashing in on mail". Maclean's.
  4. ^ a b Lapointe, Katherine (8 May 2013). "Is the Canada Periodical Fund helping TC Media squeeze freelancers?". The Story Board.
  5. ^ a b c "Canada Periodical Fund: Winners and losers". Masthead. 21 January 2010.
  6. ^ Woods, Stuart (20 January 2010). "Canada Periodical Fund guidelines unveiled, with no exception for litmags". Quill and Quire.
  7. ^ Gordon, Graeme (26 January 2018). "The Curious Case Of Maclean's Government Grants". Canadaland.
  8. ^ a b Zimonjic, Peter (22 May 2019). "Federal government names organizations that will help spend $600M journalism fund". CBC.
  9. ^ a b Thomson, Stuart (22 November 2018). "$600M in federal funding for media 'a turning point in the plight of newspapers in Canada'". National Post, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.
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