Several people took part in a demonstration in front of TVA-Saguenay on Tuesday to demand the protection of regional information.
This meeting was organized by several community organizations in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean who are concerned about the future of local supplies in the region, but also elsewhere in Quebec.
The restructuring, announced by Pierre Karl Péladeau on October 2, includes the elimination of numerous positions in TVA’s regional newsrooms. In a few months, the bulletins currently produced in Saguenay, Rimouski, Sherbrooke and Trois-Rivières will all be produced in Quebec.
The approximately 75 people present at the demonstration on Tuesday also wanted to challenge the governments.
Here are some of the testimonies collected by TVA Nouvelles:
“If there is no regional information, far fewer people will vote.”
“The people have unprecedented power and I think we have to fight to keep local information, which is an important milestone in democracy.”
“We need to take much stronger action than we thought to preserve the media, and we need to address the essential issue: the issue of media revenue.”
Reaction from Minister St-Onge
The Minister of Canadian Heritage indicated Tuesday that she is not ruling out the possibility of further measures for the media world. For the time being, however, she prefers to rely on measures that have already been decided by Parliament.
“The government has taken measures to support local and regional information. We have also introduced tax measures to further support newsrooms. Now we see that the difficulties that the print press faced are shifting to radio and television. That’s why we’re looking at what we can do to provide better support.”
Quebec Culture Minister Mathieu Lacombe, who was questioned by the demonstrators, also did not respond. His office said the minister could not be reached for comment on the matter.
For full explanations, see the video above.