Corus Entertainment, the company behind Global News, received nearly $1.8 million from Google under the Liberal government’s legacy media subsidy program.
Google’s fund, managed by the Canadian Journalism Collective, distributes millions from Google to hundreds of Canadian media organizations deemed eligible based on government criteria.
In the latest round of funding between May 29 and June 11, the collective distributed a total of $1,799,241 to 36 news companies.
Three companies owned by Corus Entertainment received the plurality of these funds, raking in $575,521, $158,576, and $9,398 respectively, for a total of $743,496.
Left-wing news organization The Pointer received $71,314 from the government-forced Google payout; this publication was founded by San Grewal and focuses on the Peel Region.
The Pointer has received five grants from the federal government under the Canada Periodical Fund in recent years, amounting to a total of $199,032.
The collective also gave Diversity Reporter Media $29,544 despite the company having no digital media presence for several years. Originally founded as a weekly newspaper meant to showcase minorities by Mohsin Abbas, he now runs a group of local print newspapers in Milton, Tilbury, and LaSalle, which also receive federal funding via the Local Journalism Initiative.
The previous round of funding saw 79 news businesses receive $8,755,818 in funds from Google.
This includes legacy media organizations like Rogers Media, receiving $2,107,002; French outlet Le Devoir with $824,591; Cogeco with $428,140; and Quebecor brands MédiaQMI and NumériQ with $1,057,913 and $551,185 respectively.
Pagemasters North America, a subsidiary of The Canadian Press, received $523,933, while APTN received $216,749 and CPAC received $245,006.
Any outlet that meets the government’s distinction as a qualified Canadian journalism organization is eligible for the program upon application.
Since the fund’s inception, the collective has dispensed $48,338,987 to 245 media organizations.
In the weeks that the media fund has been dispersing funds, the collective’s biggest beneficiary was the CBC, being paid over $6.8 million. Bell Media became the second-largest beneficiary, receiving $5.2 million.
The collective has only paid out 60 per cent of what they plan on giving to each news organization this year, planning to divvy up the rest of the spoils after conducting an audit of each eligible business.