by Derek Dunn, Yang Shilong

    OTTAWA, May 15 (Xinhua) -- The media landscape in Canada is changing rapidly. Broadcast and newspaper journalists face massive job losses, local content is shrinking, traditional revenue streams are drying up, and the largest media corporations in the country are on the brink of collapse.

    Many say the normal effects of a worldwide recession are at work. But observers in Canada told Xinhua that technology is playing a major role redefining media in one of the world's most tech-savvy nations.

    THE MEDIA INDUSTRY IS GOING THROUGH HELL

    "The media industry is going through hell," said Ian Morrison, a long-time spokesperson for industry watchdog group -- Friends of Canadian Broadcasting.

    Both broadcasters and newspapers are facing "cyclical change" and "structural change," he said.

    Cyclical change refers to sliding revenue due to the recession. Fewer advertisements are sold when companies reduce spending; fewer cable packages and subscriptions are sold when consumers tighten their belts.

    That is part of the reason for the predicament media corporations find themselves in, Morrison said.

    National politicians have recently concluded parliamentary hearings over the crisis. They heard that one of the big four private corporations, CanWest Global Communications, could be forced to declare bankruptcy in the coming weeks. CanWest's debt is 4 billion Canadian dollars (about 3.393 billion U.S. dollars).

    A second, CTV globe media, says it has tried to sell for 1 Canadian dollar and several local television stations planned for closure but found no takers.

    A third, Quebecor World, survives under a court-ordered protection from its creditors.

    And the fourth, TQS, a francophone TV network, continues to flounder after securing protection from creditors.

    The largest media provider, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), a publicly-owned entity which receives 1.1 billion Canadian dollars from taxpayers ever year, is asking the government for a bridge loan. If not, the CBC may have to cut 800 jobs.

    RECESSION ROUGH, BUT INTERNET ROUGHER

    But depleting revenues due to a recession is not the sole cause of the crisis, Morrison said. Structural change is in play with the emergency of new media, specifically the Internet.

    "You've never seen the horse and buggy come back after the car was introduced, did you?" he said. "A newer technology comes along and deconstructs existing technologies and destroys entire industries. That's what we are seeing in the newspaper industry."

    In the United States, the New York Times is selling off assets. In England, more than 500 journalist positions have been cut. And the world's largest supplier of newsprint, Abitibi Bowater, has declared bankruptcy. One of Canada's two national newspapers, The Globe and Mail, cut staff by 10 percent.

    Readers want up-to-the-minute reports at their desktops or hand-held devices, and they do not want to pay for them. The Internet offers that. Canadians are among the world's most connected people, with more than 80 percent of the population accessing high speed Internet. That does not bode well for the morning newspaper that land on the front doorstep. As readership declines, so does ad revenue.

    Viewers are presenting broadcasters with similar challenges. Rather than buy cable packages, increasingly they are opting to watch their favorite shows on the Internet, at their leisure. There is also technology that allows viewers to bypass commercials. Again, as viewership declines, so does ad revenue.

    BROADCASTERS TO FOLLOW THE WAY OF NEWSPAPERS

    Broadcasting is not suffering as much as newspapers because of the structural changes, Morrison said. But it's future is not as bright as it once was.

    "I think you'll see the print media largely disappear," he said. "Broadcast is far less attractive than it was 30 years ago when it was effectively a license to print money. But I don't see it entirely going the way of newspapers."

    But the situation is not entirely out of the media's control. Solutions can be implemented to see corporations "weather the storm," said Pierre Belanger, professor of communications at the University of Ottawa.

    Belanger once worked for the CBC, and now comments extensively on the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), an arm's-length government authority in charge of regulating and supervising Canadian broadcasting and telecommunications.

    He said the solution lays in the CRTC reversing a decision regarding "carriage fees." Issuing carriage fees to companies that provide delivery services is standard practice among specialty channels that offer exclusively sports or weather or other niche content.

    Belanger said it is time to allow the major networks to do the same.

    "CTV and CanWest are being left out of the equation. They are not getting royalties. And now you have two major networks in the country on the brink of collapse: TQS and CanWest," he said. "My prediction is that the CRTC will be amending its decision. We've got to give them more access to cable money."

    MONEY ALONE IS NOT THE SOLUTION

    Carriage fees are not the only option, he said. The government can choose a straightforward bailout, offer subsidies, tax deductions, or regulate foreign interests out of the market. It could even lower costs by reducing the amount of Canadian content required.

    Another possible solution includes allowing networks to own rights to the Canadian programs they air, just as in the United States. That means paying for production, but also reaping the benefits of a hit show and its spin-offs such as DVD sales.

    The CRTC could also allow smaller stations to carry more foreign content, usually U.S. shows are proven to attract viewers.

    Whatever the options, Belanger is convinced the industry needs government intervention.

    "We want television to be a public service in Canada," he said. "The entire industry as we know could be gone within the next 10 years."

    Regardless of whether traditional media receives government money or not, and whether it produces Canadian content or foreign, the central issue for Morrison remains one of technology. Nothing will guarantee that young people will stick with old technologies.

    "I doubt you can make young people sit around on the couch and (passively absorb) media from television," he said. (1 U.S. dollar = 1.179 Canadian dollars)