That time when Sun Columnist Brian Lilley was wrong

How we produce and consume news has changed forever, but bill C-18 won’t make Postmedia hire more journalists or Facebook a better corporate actor.

Toronto Sun columnist Brian Lilley has a reputation for being good at his job. He breaks stories and provides insightful, balanced commentary through his accessible, lively writing. I like to read his stuff.

This is why I suspect many - who can afford it - would pay to read it.

And this is why Lilley’s column yesterday - the one that suggested that federal Conservatives should support highly interventionist policy from the government due to the left-leaning bias of Facebook - was the wrong take. The policy in question is bill C-18, legislation introduced by the Liberals that would legally require platforms like Facebook and Google to pay outlets like Postmedia when they post content on their platforms.

Over the last few years, I’ve found myself gravitating to paying for content from people and outlets who challenge my worldview, break stories, and/or provide balance in their political viewpoints. Jen Gerson and Matt Gurney’s outlet, The Line, is one example. However, The Line is not published on a legacy news platform like the one Brian publishes on. The Line utilizes the platform you’re reading this piece on, Substack, to generate revenue. Substack allows creators to charge a subscription fee to subscribers if they want exclusive content, or to just post free stuff. The platform takes a cut of any subscription revenue and the creators get paid.

Substack now boasts over a million paid subscribers across its platform. However, there are questions about Substack’s long-term viability as a revenue-generating platform. But as far as I can tell, Substack hasn’t approached the federal Liberals to intervene with a law to protect a business model that may or may not be viable in the long run.

It’s quite a different story for Brian Lilley’s employer, Postmedia. 

Postmedia is a traditional-ish print media company in Canada. Like The Line, they employ talented journalists and opinion writers who help inform the Canadian public. However, unlike The Line, they have been the recipient of direct federal government financial support and likely need bill C-18 to bolster sagging revenues which suggests their business model is not adapting to changes in how the public consumes media.

Now, I should chide Lilley for not making this point clearer in his piece for the sake of being transparent about bias. And, while Lilley argues that Conservatives shouldn’t be pushing back against bill C-18 because Facebook has a bias against Conservatives, I could easily argue the other way using The Toronto Star as an example. It’s a weak sauce red herring of an argument, a trap that Lilley rarely falls into. But that’s not why his take is so off base.

Conservatives aren’t opposing bill C-18 because we like Facebook or that don't like the Toronto Star. We’re opposing it because it creates a wrong-headed government intervention for an issue that largely is due to a failure in a private sector business model. 

I’ve also  seen no evidence that the passage of bill C-18 will “save journalism.” If it passes, there’s no provision that Lilley will get a raise for his hard work, that local print media outlets will be revived from the dead, or that outlets like Postmedia will hire more journalists or invest heavily in things of minor importance to good journalism like, say, research. The federal Liberal’s previous bailout strategy sure didn’t get this job done, why would C-18? 

There’s also no evidence that bill C-18 will make Postmedia profitable in the long term. If I was a shareholder, I’d be questioning any suggestion that C-18 will somehow propel the company into sustainable profit territory simply by virtue of its passage. 

Postmedia and similar outlets are struggling with the same question Twitter is right now; how do we make our business profitable and achieve a social objective (ie. informed public discourse) in a rapidly, constantly changing media landscape? How do we do these things during an economic downturn? But that’s largely a corporate issue. And every once in a while, it’s healthy for the Canadian public not to assume more government intervention isn’t the best solution to a problem. 

Facebook and Google adapt their business models to consumer preferences (and reports suggest that even Facebook itself is struggling to do so now). This is the reality now for anyone who is a communicator or in the business of communications. Even as a Member of Parliament, I have had to constantly change how I communicate to the public as how they consume information changes. If I can’t figure out how to get my message out and produce a message that shows the value of my work, I fail. That’s not Facebook or Google’s business challenge to own - it’s mine.

Now, that’s not to say that there are serious issues about how these platforms collect and use data, platform or de-platform certain content, and more. But of all the things that the federal Liberals could be seized with on these issues, Bill C-18 should be low on the priority list. 

I am confident that traditional news outlets can solve their business problems. Maybe if they focused more on supporting assets like Brian Lilley and less on hoping the government will sustain an outdated business model, they'd finally get on the right track. 

I'm happy to be proven wrong, but Lilley’s last column sure didn't make the grade for me on that front.