An independent board of directors, in which no member is paid and which includes a lawyer and an accountant: these are some of the criteria that should guide the Canadian Journalism Collective chosen by Google to redistribute 100 million per year to the media Canadians, according to a coalition of media.
The latter, which claims to represent 95% of Canadian news publishers, includes Hebdos Québec and its 115 members, as well as Médias d’info du Canada, which brings together 550 titles, including La Presse. This group was one of those that had expressed interest to Google for the redistribution of 100 million per year, as part of the Online News Act.
It was ultimately the Canadian Journalism Collective (CCJ), essentially made up of administrators from small independent media and mainly associated with a company offering publication and advertising tools, Indiegraf, which was chosen. The organization was founded on May 20 specifically for this mandate.
“Where the problem lies is that the board of directors of this collective is not ready as we speak,” estimates Sylvain Poisson, general director of Hebdos Québec.
In a statement released Thursday, the coalition led by News Media Canada made 10 recommendations for “robust and independent” governance. Among other things, it is believed that the CCJ board should include a lawyer and a chartered accountant, “who should be independent of news media companies.” Board members “should not receive funds under the Online News Act” and should not receive fees from the CCJ, it is advised.
“We just want to ensure that the CRTC can apply the rules: it’s so important because it’s the reference year, it’s the first year,” explains Mr. Poisson.
To define the eligibility of the approximately 1,500 organizations that contacted Google in the spring to obtain their share of the 100 million, it is suggested to appoint an independent panel of three people, including a lawyer and a member of the journalistic ecosystem.
Finally, the payment of sums, or what is called “the administration of the back office service”, should be independent of any member of the Board of Directors, and they should not be linked to each other. The CCJ recently raised concerns about conflict of interest risks, with 8 out of 12 people in the organization associated with Indiegraf.
“Composing a board of directors where two-thirds of the members are related parties is a lack of good governance and discernment,” said Paul Deegan, CEO of News Media Canada.
The Canadian Journalism Collective responded to the recent accusations by arguing that its board of directors was “temporary” awaiting a decision from the CRTC. He announced this Thursday that a public consultation would be held on this matter and will collect comments until July 29.
In a recently published subsection on its site, the CCJ announced a “public call” for the upcoming hiring of a director who “is expected to take office at the end of the summer.”
The collective “will invite both traditional written and audiovisual press organizations and independent local newsrooms to participate in the entire governance structure, in accordance with the law,” it promises.