The Tangled Garden

The emergence of Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google (the FAANGs) has created an unprecedented challenge to Canada's news, television and film businesses. In this book Richard Stursberg offers a brief account — often based on his insider's experience — of how Canada's cultural industries were built. And he explains that independent Canadian media and cultural industries are unlikely to survive due to the large share of ad dollars and audience attention captured by the big digital media companies.

Faced with similar challenges, many governments around the world have responded by protecting and strengthening their national cultural life. Canada stands out for its passivity. Richard Stursberg identifies the path that would assure a strong continued news media, and a reasonable share of audiences for Canadian creative work. He warns that time for action is short, and many more media outlets will soon disappear, like the thirty-six newspapers shut down by the Toronto Star-Postmedia deal in 2017.

Richard Stursberg's knowledge and experience across a wide range of cultural organizations in Canada make this an important and informative book on a topic of vital significance. At the same time this is an engaging account for any reader who wants to continue to enjoy Canadian stories and hear Canadian voices in the media and on our screens.