Through a neoliberal lens: how a Canadian community media program for at-risk youth operates today

Community media programs are created to foster democratic engagement in the public sphere, however, they increasingly need to organize their activities to meet objectives that are symptomatic of contemporary neoliberal policy environments. This thesis discusses the impact that neoliberalism has had on community media projects from a Canadian perspective. It examines a four month community media program funded by Service Canada using various methods to gather data, including surveys, interviews and participant observation. Findings indicate that the strict employment related outcomes of the program imposed by the federal government, not only have negative consequences on participants, they serve to deny access to programming for vulnerable youth populations. As such, it is suggested that the government of Canada reform their strict criteria for successful outcomes of these programs.