Media

Karyn Pugliese of APTN will be honoured with the Hyman Solomon Award for Public Policy Journalism at PPF’s 2019 Testimonial Dinner and Awards on April 11 in Toronto.

Past Event

Discover how you cannot always believe what you see on digital platforms - thanks to new technology that can create fake photos and videos that look very, very real - in this free lecture by Carl Miller, Research Director at Demos. He'll explain how synthetic media can harm democracy March 6 at 10:00 a.m. at Dalhousie University, MacDonald Building, University Hall.

Past Event

Discover the unseen forces on digital platforms that can affect what information you see – and what you don’t - in this free lecture by Carl Miller, Research Director at Demos. He'll explain how the ‘attention economy’ can harm democracy March 4, 6 p.m. at the SFU Vancouver Harbour Centre.

Many Canadians use digital platforms without fully understanding the technology behind them and how they are changing political culture, democratic participation and trust. Digital Democracy 101 aims to grow Canadians' understanding of new digital technologies and their relationship with the democratic process.

The question of how, or whether, to demarcate who qualifies as a journalist has returned in louder, more insistent terms with the federal government’s pledge to introduce a tax credit rebating an unspecified percentage of the labour costs of newsrooms. Let's define journalists by what they do: "A definition does not infringe on anyone’s right to report and publish; it simply provides some with the advantage of a shield law or tax credit."

The Digital Democracy Project is a multi-year project to analyze and respond to the increasing amounts of disinformation and hate in the digital public sphere. It will monitor digital and social media in real time, coordinate with international research and policy development projects, and develop public policy responses to counter these threats to democratic institutions and social cohesion.

The Public Policy Forum is pleased that the production of independent, original journalism for Canadians will be supported by new measures announced in the government’s fall economic statement.

Social media platforms provide unprecedented opportunities for citizens, political candidates, activists and civil society groups to communicate, but they also pose new challenges for democracy. One key problem is the rise of harmful speech online, which can undermine democratic participation and debate.

The rise of harmful speech online is a threat to Canada’s democracy. The Poisoning Democracy report outlines how governments and digital platform companies can better address hate and harassment, including the creation of a Moderation Standards Council.

The rise of harmful speech online is a threat to Canada’s democracy. This report outlines how governments and digital platform companies can better address hate and harassment, including the creation of a Moderation Standards Council.

The rise of harmful speech online is a threat to Canada’s democracy. This report outlines how governments and digital platform companies can better address hate and harassment, including the creation of a Moderation Standards Council.

Radio Canada spoke with PPF's Carl Neustaedter about the report "Mind the Gaps: Quantifying the Decline of News Coverage in Canada". The report found that news coverage has dropped in local communities, and specifically there's less civic coverage of courts and city hall - civic institutions which are the pillars of democracy.

Local news across Canada has been cut in half in the last decade, writes Terry Pedwell of The Canadian Press. In this Globe & Mail article, he highlights a new PPF report “Mind The Gaps — Quantifying The Decline of News Coverage in Canada” which looks specifically at the decline in civic reporting of civic institutions like city hall, police stations and courts.

Many different approaches to support journalism, locally and beyond, have emerged in recent years in the wake of the sharp decline of traditional industry players. Public policy will play a crucial role in shaping the rules for ownership innovation and protected space for Canadian journalism.

In our study of 20 small and mid-sized Canadian communities, the number and depth of newspaper articles about civic affairs declined sharply between 2008 and 2017, leaving citizens less informed about their democratic institutions.