Like many others, I’m interested in the continual evolution of journalism and media. And given my passion for Edmonton, I’m particularly interested in that evolution at a local level. Where have we been, and where are we going? What’s next?
I’m not particularly interested in the distinction between “traditional media” and “new media”, though I recognize there are instances in which treating the two separately can help our understanding of the changes that are going on. Taking the long view, however, I see the entities the terms represent merging.
I’d like to start devoting an entry each Monday to this changing landscape (it’s all about experimentation, right?). Some weeks it’ll be a review of relevant news (like what you see below), other weeks it might be an opinion, or a critique, or an interview, or some statistics, or something I haven’t thought of yet. Hopefully I can keep it interesting for both me and you!
Here’s my first week in review:
- Biggest news of the week – West Edmonton Local has launched. It’s a new hyperlocal news project produced by Grant MacEwan University journalism students, guided by Editor-in-Chief Archie McLean. You can read his welcome message here. Follow them on Twitter at @WestEdLocal. Looks like they’re off to a great start – I’m eager to see the site grow. I think there are too many plus/minus icons right now, but overall I like it. And I love the full-text RSS feed.
- It was a little over three years ago that the Edmonton Journal brought in John McDonald as publisher. He was new to Edmonton, but his successor is not – John Connolly is the new publisher of the Edmonton Journal. The news comes one month after Lucinda Chodan was named Editor-in-Chief (check out David Climenhaga’s take here). You can watch a video with them both here.
- At 1:04pm on Friday afternoon, EZ Rock 104.9 switched formats and became Virgin Radio Edmonton. Pepper & Dylan, formerly of The Bounce, are back in Edmonton to host the station’s morning show. You can check out the new website here.
- Local traditional media were among the most retweeted of all local Twitter accounts in 2010, as you can see in my State of the Edmonton Twittersphere. @edmontonjournal was #1, @ctvedmonton was #2, @cbcedmonton was #6, @iNews880 was #8, @sonic1029 was #16, and @EdmontonSun was #20. Mainstream journalists @dantencer, @Paulatics, @britl, @joshclassen, @SimonOstler, and @JasonGregor all cracked the top 25 as well.
- If you have a Facebook account, you can take the Edmonton Journal’s Writer Personality Quiz to find out which EJ journalist you are most like. I wonder how she feels about this – I took the quiz and apparently share similarities with Paula Simons! The quiz was developed by EgoAnt Productions.
- Have to include a Happy Birthday to EdmontonJournal.com Editor Karen Unland!
- Corus Radio is looking to hire an Interactive Content Coordinator here in Edmonton. Send your resume by February 23.
- The February edition of the Social Web Meetup is happening tonight.
- Also tonight: the media-focused sessions at NAIT for Info Week 2011.
- Friday night is the Meet the Media Tweetup at Brewsters in Oliver (on ShareEdmonton). Looks like they are already at capacity, but I have seen a lot of interest online, so hopefully there will be another one in the future.
- Feeling inspired by West Edmonton Local? Have an idea for an interesting media-related project? Consider bringing your idea and passion to Startup Weekend!
You can follow Edmonton media news on Twitter using the hashtag #yegmedia. For a great overview of the global media landscape, check out Mediagazer. The big news today is of course the Huffington Post acquisition by AOL.
So, what have I missed? What’s new and interesting in the world of Edmonton media? And what would you like to see me write about in future Media Monday entries? Let me know!
MasterMaq's Blog 
Interestingly, most, if not all, your links were about mainstream media. I know you are going to do it on your own anyway, but if I was to suggest anything it would be linking to some of the more interesting blog posts published by non-msm folk every week.
Good stuff, Mack!
Good suggestion, thanks Andy! I have tried to do that to a certain extent in my Edmonton notes, but this is probably another good place for that.
You’re performing a great service here, Mack. There’s very little coverage of Edmonton media in Edmonton’s mainstream media. That’s partly because it feels like “inside baseball” – we’re not sure anyone else is as interested in it as we are. It’s also partly because there’s a discomfort about reporting on (or sometimes even mentioning) the “competition.” This attitude isn’t very productive, but it is widespread.
As I think you’ve demonstrated in this post, what’s going on in Edmonton’s media is interesting and pertinent to the city. So I salute you for filling the unfilled niche, and I look forward to reading this every Monday.
Thanks Karen. I thought about it for a while and essentially came to the same conclusion as you – what’s going on is interesting and pertinent to the city! It’s worth writing and talking about.
Thanks for reading! And for being interesting and dedicated to your craft, giving me stuff to write about!
Thanks for the shout-out Mack. We’re really excited about the pro
I agree with Karen and Andy that this is valuabl
Let’s try that again. Thanks for the shout-out — we’re really excited about the project.
We’ll be following Monday Monday Edmonton!