Slim majority of Canadians would support newspaper bailout: poll

A Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey found that 87 per cent of respondents believe newspapers play an important role in the news media and 40 per cent said survival of the industry “matters a great deal” to them, the Canadian Press reports.

The CP report states:

“While 34 per cent of respondents said they’re consuming less “newspaper” news than they were five years ago, 39 per cent reported consuming more news from websites of traditional news organizations, principally newspapers – the biggest increase in the survey.

Forty per cent of respondents said survival of the newspaper industry “matters a great deal” to them, and another 39 per cent said it “matters a little.”

One in five respondents said the industry’s survival mattered not at all.

Support for public aid to newspapers shows significant variation depending on region, age, gender, income and political affiliation.

While 51 per cent supported the idea nationally and 45 per cent were opposed, just 46 per cent of Alberta respondents and 43 per cent of Conservative supporters backed a bailout.

Approval was highest in Atlantic Canada and Quebec, among women, younger people and lower-income earners.”

The survey was conducted before the announcement of Canwest receiving partial bankruptcy protection earlier this week.