Media Monday Edmonton: Update #189

Here’s my latest update on local media stuff:

• ICYMI: Here is Margo Goodhand’s article on Postmedia, an “inside look at the damage being done to Canada’s newspapers.”
• Sheila Pratt is the latest to announce her departure from the Edmonton Journal (as mentioned last week). And just a few days before that, it was Karen Kleiss who announced she’s leaving both the Journal and journalism itself.
• But here’s a bit of good news: Liane Faulder is back at the Journal on a part-time basis full-time, splitting her efforts between food and features. “I’ll still be doing food notes on Wednesdays, and my weekday blog so that people know what’s up on the culinary scene,” she wrote on Facebook. Just this evening I was speaking to someone who cancelled their subscription because Liane had been let go, so this is welcome news indeed.
• Ryan Jackson, who was let go from the Journal after nearly 9 years, is blogging about his time at The Journal.
• The Gateway, the official student newspaper at the University of Alberta, has decided to cease weekly printing and will focus instead on digital and online, augmented by a monthly print magazine. The final weekly print issue of The Gateway will appear around campus on April 6. The Gateway “has filled University of Alberta newspaper racks since 1910” but “will now be optimized and prioritized for consistent, daily online consumption in the 2016–17 publishing year.” Here’s what the Gateway going digital means for campus media, according to J-Source.
• Nominees have been announced for the 2016 Alberta Magazine Awards. Congrats to all! The winners will be announced at a gala event on March 3.
• Episode 28 of the Seen and Heard in Edmonton podcast features Ben Proulx and Dan Taylor, the comics behind 30 Minute Week.
• The City of Edmonton is looking for two Social Marketing Coordinators to join its Community Relations team.
• 93.1 The One FM in Leduc is looking for a Program Director / On Air Personality.
• Edmonton Ice Road Trucker Mike “Bad Apple” Simmons is shooting another season of the popular History Channel show. New episodes will being airing in August.
• Here’s a clip of CFRN-TV’s Popcorn Playhouse from 1978, courtesy of Vintage Edmonton. The popular kids variety show was resurrected by CTV a couple of years ago as part of the 60th anniversary celebrations.
• From Josh Hickmore in The Gateway: Local TV news offers little more than superficialities.
• Global Edmonton’s Morning News crew had a little dance party recently. Well, everyone except Slav!

Minister Deron Bilous speaks to the media at NAIT last week, photo by Premier of Alberta

And here is some slightly less local media stuff:

• In Linda’s latest social media notes, she links to all the Twitter news and points out that Instagram now lets you toggle between different accounts.
• Here’s a memo sent to Postmedia staff last week by CEO Paul Godfrey in which he wrote “the Toronto Star has made several scurrilous claims about our company, its investors and our products.”
• For a somewhat more optimistic take on the state of the newspaper business, check out Stephen Kimber’s piece for The Walrus. “The more I see what’s happening with the newspaper business, the more I’ve begun to believe it may simply be necessary for the old to implode in order to make psychic and fiscal space for the new and, hopefully, better.”
• Should the feds step in to “help democracy’s watchdogs”? That’s what Nick Fillmore argues.
• In the Globe and Mail, Peter Miller argues that the “CRTC’s ruling on Canadian ads during the Super Bowl is a fumble” and suggests that the regulator should reverse its decision on simulcast. I do agree that getting access to the American ads is much less of an issue now (they were online right away) but I still don’t think many will support his stance on this issue.
• I have to admit, I haven’t really been following the Ghomeshi trial. But so far at least, it doesn’t look good for his accusers.

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!

You can see past Media Monday Edmonton entries here.