Media Monday Edmonton: Week in Review #2

Here’s my second week in review:

• Vue Weekly is no longer “Edmonton’s 100% Independent News and Entertainment Source.” If you check the fine print on the Vue Weekly masthead, you’ll find the following: “Vue Weekly is a division of Postvue Publishing LP (Robert W. Doull, President) and is published every Thursday.” Representatives of Doull’s BC-based company Thompson River Publications confirmed to me via email that the group has indeed purchased Vue Weekly. Thompson River has snapped up a number of small community newspapers in Alberta and BC over recent months. Vue Weekly no longer carries the “100% independent” banner on the print edition, though it is still prominent on the website. The Alberta corporation “Postvue Publishing Inc.” was registered on November 30, 2010.
• Global Edmonton wrote about the provincial budget embargo. Among other things, it stated that “no coverage of any aspect of Budget 2011, 3rd quarter fiscal update or ministry business plans can appear in the media, including the Internet and social media (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, etc.), at any time during the period of the embargo.” You might recall that tweets about the budget caused quite a stir last year.
• The Association of Electronic Journalists has honoured Edmonton’s Tim Spelliscy with a 2011 RTNDA Lifetime Achievement Award. The award will be presented on April 9 in Saskatoon.
• Shaw is hosting customer discussion sessions on usage based billing throughout the country. The Edmonton sessions take place on March 8 and March 21, plus there’s a session taking place in St. Albert on March 7. There was a UBB rally this weekend.
• The Charrette has been publishing some excellent analysis of the City Centre Redevelopment proposals. Here’s an interview they did with Phil Sande, the project’s Executive Director. And here are the three entries they have done so far: BNIM, Foster + Partners, KCAP Architects.
• The latest Edmonton This Week podcast looks at last week’s arena update, This Old Edmonton House, and Youth Career Day.
• TELUS is expanding Optik TV’s South Asian lineup with 11 new channels, bringing the total to 19.
• The Edmonton Journal will be livestreaming Pecha Kucha Night 9 on Friday evening – don’t miss it! I’ll be speaking about the importance of digital preservation, something the local media often struggle with.
• In case you missed it last week: How fast are local media websites?
• MacEwan’s Open House is coming up on Saturday. It’ll be a great opportunity to learn about the new Bachelor of Communication Studies degree.

I was fortunate enough to take part in an informal conversation on local media on Thursday evening. It was a great discussion, and I came away with lots to think about. I was reminded of this post from April 2009: Newspapers, cities, and the local web.

You can follow Edmonton media news on Twitter using the hashtag #yegmedia. For a great overview of the global media landscape, check out Mediagazer.

So, what have I missed? What’s new and interesting in the world of Edmonton media? Let me know!