The President of Stingray Radio is in St. John’s to make an appeal to the provincial government to consider the role of local media when considering where to spend its advertising dollars.
Steve Jones says local, reliable content is more important now than ever, but increasingly, advertisers—including federal, provincial and municipal governments—are moving their advertising dollars to digital providers based outside the country.
Jones says that leaves local media including radio, television, print and digital providers in the position of trying to maintain the level of service listeners, viewers and readers need, with far fewer resources as they trim jobs to make up for lost revenue.
He’s urging governments, including the province, to invest 70 per cent of their marketing money in local platforms. “They play a critical role in ensuring that Canadian voices are heard, and Canadian culture is supported and Canadian jobs are retained.”
Premier Andrew Furey agrees that local media plays an important role.
He says the need for factual news content is more important now than ever before, comparing local news coverage against social media where “often it’s left to the user to decipher fact from fiction.”