Media, Internet, Algorithm
When Marc Edge and Robert Hackett approached the CCPA about guest editing an issue of the Monitor on the media, the plan was to focus on the state of the news after the corporate convergence spell of the past decade. It became clear early on that we could not disentangle the challenges facing journalism from the technologies that deliver it (and who owns them), the algorithms that determine what information we’re exposed to, the trust and value we give to media workers and the consequences, for those pushing for social change and climate action, of not reforming an institution that is currently built to perpetuate the status quo. The contributors to this issue ask what media democracy looks like in the new technological space, and what kinds of policy responses are more likely to take us there.
Here’s a sample of what’s inside this issue:
- Can Canada’s media be reformed? by Marc Edge
- Can the Bank of Canada provide interest-free loans? by David Macdonald
- Media reform and climate action, by Robert Hackett
- Discoverability in the new attention factory, by Fenwick McKelvey
- The rise of the freelancer in a “sharing” media economy, by Nora Loreto
- Is Facebook a friend or foe of media democracy, by Davis Carr
- Shamelessly independent: an interview with editor Sheila Sampath, by Abigail Kidd
- Modular media: A radical communication and cultural policy for Canada, by Dwayne Winseck
Cover illustration by Raymond Biesinger
