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The government is pledging nearly $600 million over the next five years to help news organizations struggling to adapt to a digital age that has disrupted traditional business models.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau said the government wants to protect the “vital role that independent news media play in our democracy and in our communities.”

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The plan in the government’s fiscal update allows non-profit news organizations to accept donations and issue tax receipts to donors. To be eligible, charitable journalism operations will have to release content for free under a creative commons licence, which the government hopes will have a knock-on effect for local news organizations that can post the stories or incorporate them into their own journalism.

The plan also includes a new refundable tax credit for labour costs at both for-profit and non-profit news organizations. To determine eligibility for the credit, the government plans to create an independent panel drawn from the “news and journalism community,” which will also “define and promote core journalism standards (and) define professional journalism.”