Premier Doug Ford’s office is considering a dramatic overhaul of its controversial Ontario News Now promotional video service, the Star has learned.

Criticized by those on the right and left of the political spectrum as taxpayer-funded “propaganda,” ONN produces videos boosting the Progressive Conservative government that are designed to look like legitimate TV news packages.

But Conservative sources confide that few people are tuning in.

“They’re too long. No one is watching (one minute and 30 second) packs on social (media),” a senior Tory official, speaking confidentially in order to freely discuss internal deliberations, told the Star.

“We’re reviewing all our communications strategies,” another insider confirmed Wednesday.

Ford’s government may not pull the plug altogether, but sources say the videos will be radically altered so they can no longer be accused of broadcasting “fake news.”

ONN has about 10,500 followers on its Twitter feed — fewer even than many of the Queen’s Park Press Gallery reporters covering Ford for mainstream media outlets and well behind the premier’s 136,000 followers.

While Ford’s ex-chief of staff, Dean French, who resigned in June after a cronyism scandal, was a big believer in the videos, some other Conservatives are not fans.

Several cabinet ministers have privately admitted to resenting being forced to do interviews for the spots, which they deemed a waste of their time, their credibility, and the government’s resources.

Tory MPPs have also said some constituents question the value of the much-mocked but seldom-viewed videos.

Ford’s office declined to comment on ONN’s future delivering newslike stories, instead likening its output to “a video press release or a digital householder.”

“All recognized parties at the legislature have a caucus budget which is used to communicate with constituents. Ontario News Now is a communications arm of PC caucus services,” the premier’s office said.

ONN is the taxpayer-subsidized version of Ford Nation Live, which the Tories used during last year’s victorious election campaign.

Lyndsey Vanstone, a former broadcast journalist who worked on Ford’s successful 2018 PC leadership bid, does the news-style “stand-ups” for the items.

Vanstone did the Ford Nation Live clips during the election before the launch of ONN once the Tories took office on June 29, 2018. She and her camera crew often travel with the premier — including to New York City last April.

Ford defended the expense of that junket in an interview with CTV News upon his return.

“I make no apologies for getting the message out,” the premier told CTV’s Queen’s Park bureau chief Colin D’Mello.

Opposition parties have charged the videos are partisan advertising at public expense.

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Last month, NDP MPP Marit Stiles (Davenport) blasted Ford for an ONN spot where he urged Ontarians to buy wines from Pelee Island Winery.

“Doug Ford hasn’t learned anything from his patronage appointment scandal,” Stiles said two weeks ago, noting the winery’s president had donated money to the PC party.

“Once again, instead of acting like a premier for every Ontarian, Doug Ford is more interested in rewarding PC party supporters. The fact that he’s using his taxpayer-funded fake news channel to do it is an insult to Ontarians,” she said.

Earlier this year, a Star editorial questioned Ford for establishing “his own propaganda machine, Ontario News Now, a taxpayer-funded vanity project to gush breathlessly about (government) initiatives for the so-called ordinary folks.”

The Globe and Mail reported top ONN staffers are making six-figure salaries for their work.

Because its costs are covered by the Tory caucus service’s bureau’s annual budget of almost $7 million, it is unclear precisely how much ONN costs taxpayers.

In a National Post op-ed last fall, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation said “there is no doubt … Ontario News Now is a vehicle for partisan publicity.”

“It should not be funded by taxpayers. It is a waste of public money and needs to be cut,” wrote the CTF’s Ontario director Christine Van Geyn.

“Do the government MPPs in Ontario want to face the onslaught of angry taxpayers to save Ford’s propaganda page?” continued Van Geyn.

“The Ford government has made a commitment to respect taxpayers’ money by reducing spending and waste. Ending Ontario News Now would achieve both.”

In the Toronto Sun, a columnist advised “the distraction of Ontario News Now, the partisan news service, could be fixed by having the party pay for it.”

Robert Benzie is the Star’s Queen’s Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie

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