Here’s my latest update on local media stuff:
- Congratulations to all of the local RTDNA Canada Award winners! They tweeted the winners yet somehow their website hasn’t been updated since 2013. Bob Layton won the Sam Ross award, CBC Edmonton won six awards including the large market best radio newscast, the Gord Sinclair award for live special events radio, and the Edward R. Morrow Award for investigative reporting for the third consecutive year, Global Edmonton won three awards including best newscast large market and creative use of video, and CTV Edmonton won two awards.
- There was a minor controversy last week as Metro Edmonton published a half-page ad from Edmonton-Centre candidate Greg Keating who “does not want the gay culture to be imposed and overlaid upon our beautiful and ancient cultures.” In response Metro publisher Steve Shrout issued a statement saying, “the statements made in this advertisement are highly offensive, target the gay community, and absolutely do not reflect the values, editorial viewpoints or policies of Metro.” He promised the paper is redoubling its efforts to ensure it doesn’t happen again and said “we are a newspaper of diversity and inclusiveness.”
- Congratulations to music writer Renato Pagnani on making his Rolling Stone debut. Watch for his review of the album Love Story by Yelawolf in the May 7 issue.
- Avenue Edmonton has launched a new website design! “Don’t be frightened,” they tweeted. “Change is good.” The new design is cleaner and responsive too.
- I love it when someone can poke fun at themselves. Here’s BT Edmonton’s Tanara McLean on pointing.
- It was great to see Dana DiTomaso and Dave Cournoyer join the Global Edmonton leaders debate liveblog (here’s the recap). Dave was also on the BT Edmonton Political panel last week – here is part 1 and part 2.
- In a recent blog post David Staples takes a Sportsnet columnist named Jeff Blair to task for proposing that the NHL should have rigged the draft lottery in Toronto’s favor.
- Fish Griwkowsky writes that there are “well over 100 Edmonton-based nominations” in this year’s Rosie Awards. Good luck to all! The awards gala takes place at the Shaw Conference Centre on May 23.
- If you can believe it, Daryl Katz has partnered with movie producer Joel Silver to create Silver Pictures Entertainment. Yes, the Oilers owner “has gone Hollywood.”
- Here’s an interview with Edmonton native Paul Graham, VP and Executive Producer at TSN, on how and why that network is televising 58 out of 64 games at this year’s IIHF World Championship.
- Here is the latest Edmonton blog roundup from Karen!
- The April issue of The Pulp is now online.
- The latest edition of Postscript is all about the sensitive issue of covering sexual assault.
- As mentioned previously, Shaw Media has announced changes to the way it produces news at some Global stations. Edmonton is unaffected, and I learned recently that the Montreal newscasts “are being produced by feeding local stories into a central computer and having a local anchor on a virtual set communicate with a production team in Edmonton.”
- For the latest in social media news, check out Linda’s weekly notes.
- From Vox: All of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize winners
- Buzzfeed is gearing up to launch a team here in Canada and it has hired Craig Silverman to lead the effort. Bloomberg reported back in March that Buzzfeed had already started a marketing team based in Toronto.
- The Yeggies are coming up on May 9! Get your tickets here.
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!
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