Media Monday Edmonton: Update #23

Here is my latest update on local media stuff:

• On Wednesday evening, Avenue Edmonton’s Top 40 Under 40 for 2011 were unveiled at the Winspear Centre. Six members of the local media made the list: Tim Adams from CBC, Todd Babiak from the Edmonton Journal, Josh Classen from CTV, Jason Gregor from TEAM 1260, Kari Skelton from up! 99.3, and Ted Halabi publisher of SOS Children’s Safety Magazine. Congratulations to all! Check out the full profiles here.
• It was a big week for milestones at CTV. Daryl McIntyre celebrated 25 years at CFRN on Wednesday. Both Carrie Doll and Josh Classen had nice things to say on Twitter! Also celebrating was Dirk Machtans, who retired on Friday evening after 46 years at CFRN!
• The downtown arena has been front and centre for the last few weeks, with lots of coverage from all media organizations in the city. This has resulted in some interesting discussions about how it should be covered. Most of the mainstream media (Edmonton Journal, CTV, Global, CBC) used a liveblog on their own sites in addition to Twitter for coverage of the public hearing and Council meeting. I understand that not everyone uses Twitter, but I find the liveblogs annoying. I think they unnecessarily fragment discussion of the event. I much prefer the Storify approach taken by iNews880.
• Today the details on the land purchase were made public. I took issue with the way the news was first presented by the Journal and the City. I think the headlines they chose make the deal more confusing, not less. And yes I’m intentionally treating the City as “media” here because I don’t think it is uncommon for their news releases to be the first news people see.
• Another side-effect of the arena coverage – inside baseball. Karen does a good job of writing about the spat between David Staples and Dave Cournoyer in her latest Edmonton New Media Roundup. I’m really not a fan of blocking people on Twitter.
• The first issue of St. Albert’s newest paper went to press on October 19. The St. Albert Leader is edited by Glenn Cook, former editor of Saint City News, and will be published every Thursday. For more, check out MediaMag.
• We have posted the schedule for WordCamp, which takes place on November 18 and 19. Don’t miss it!
• I love that the Edmonton Oilers used Twitter to break the news about Ryan Nugent-Hopkins staying in the NHL. And yes, I’m using the term “news” lightly. I think Ryan Whitney said it best in this tweet: “The Nuge is staying in NHL huh? What a shocker. In other news, sky is blue, grass is green and it’s going to be cold in Edmonton in January.”
• Will we soon be paying for access to the Edmonton Journal online? Postmedia CEO Paul Godfrey said that ultimately, paywalls “will be across the chain.”
• CBC announced last Monday that Winnipeg’s Rick Harp is coming to Edmonton to be the new host of Edmonton AM.
• Edmonton seems to be pretty good at stealing folks away from Winnipeg! Nancy Carlson left CTV in that city to become the new late night anchor at Global Edmonton beginning tonight!
• Tripp West, formerly of Calgary’s UP! morning show, is joining The Bounce here in Edmonton. He takes over the evening duties beginning November 7.
• I wish the local media took up the “image” fight for Edmonton more often. The last thing we need to do is trash ourselves when others are doing such a good job of it, like enRoute magazine while recognizing Corso 32: “That kind of determination comes in useful when launching a spunky start-up in the slowly rejuvenating downtown core, which after dark looks not unlike Night of the Living Dead.”
• The full list of winners in the 2011 Canadian Online Publishing Awards is up. The Edmonton Journal picked up a bunch of awards.
• Congratulations to Carol Ann Guay, who stepped into the co-anchor role alongside Gord Steinke tonight on Global.

• I was on CTV News at 5pm last week to discuss Twitter and the arena meetings, and I got to play with the SMART board in their new set:

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!