Wow, 200 updates on Edmonton’s media scene! I did my first weekly roundup back in February 2011:
“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’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.”
Obviously a lot has changed since that post. The media industry looks very different and I think the line between “traditional media” and “new media” has indeed blurred. Through my weekly updates I’ve chronicled most of the media moves, changes, and experiments that have happened in Edmonton over the last five years. I’ve learned a lot along the way, and I hope you’ve found this service useful and interesting. I appreciate all of the tips and suggestions from readers, and I encourage you to keep sending them in!
I plan to keep writing these weekly updates and I also plan to do more experimentation. More on that soon!
Here’s my latest update on local media stuff:
- Very sad to hear that Patrick Cardinal died Tuesday night at the age of 54 after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer two years ago. “During one of his last days alive, Cardinal found out he is going into the Canadian Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame, where he will be posthumously inducted May 5 in Toronto.” Here’s the obituary from Broadcaster Magazine and here’s a statement from Sony Music Entertainment Canada.
- Kimberly Wynn announced she is leaving CTV Edmonton to join the cast at CTV Vancouver. Her final show here will be May 20.
- Robbin Reay has left up! 99.3 FM after five and a half years. Her last day was April 15. Duncan Paterson has moved to the afternoon spot.
- Congratulations to Global Edmonton on winning four awards and to CBC Edmonton on winning seven awards at the RTDNA Prairie Regional Awards.
- Congratulations to Amber Bracken, David Bloom, and Ryan Jackson on your awards and recognition at the News Photographers Association of Canada’s 2015 picture-of-the-year awards.
- Episode 37 of the Seen and Heard in Edmonton podcast features Jeanshorts and Baggedmilk, two of the hockey fans behind OilersNation.
- Here’s a Meet the Media recap from Leila at Dynamite PR.
- Here’s a recap of the Edmonton Broadcasters Club spring luncheon by Marty Forbes.
- Tanner Young Publications, the group behind WHERE Edmonton Magazine and the Edmonton Travel Guide, is looking for a part-time photographer. The paid internship will run from mid-May to August 26.
- Here’s the latest Edmonton podcast roundup from Seen and Heard in Edmonton. Check out the Podcast Network here and support the many great local podcasts!
- The opening for a reporter at Postmedia closes on April 29.
- The winner of the VenturePrize TELUS ICT Award was Covet. The Edmonton-based startup offers “smart TV solutions allow the consumer to instantaneously buy a fashion product displayed on television, directly off the TV screen.” You can learn more in this Herald article.
- Save the date for an interesting panel coming up on May 26 at MacEwan University called Journalist Interrupted: Towards a blueprint for a new free press featuring Brandi Morin, Linda Solomon Wood, Kelly Toughill, and Karen Unland, moderated by Brian Gorman.
Councillor McKeen in front of the cameras and microphones
And here is some slightly less local media stuff:
- From the Globe and Mail: “Ottawa is ready to blow up the rules governing Canada’s $48-billion broadcasting, media and cultural industries, arguing that decades of technological changes and government inaction have left a broken system in need of a revolution.” Apparently everything is on the table for the $47.7 billion a year industry.
- CBC reporter Connie Walker announced on April 21 that “CBC will now capitalize the words Indigenous, Aboriginal & Native when referring to Indigenous people.”
- Gannett Co. has offered to buy Tribune Publishing for $815 million. Gannett publishes USA Today and more than 100 other properties, while Tribune owns the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and 9 other dailies.
- As a long-time reader of gadget blogs, I find this move by Vox Media really interesting: “Circuit Breaker will be, in the words of The Verge’s editor, Nilay Patel, a ‘classic gadget blog,’ one that publishes news and gossip about technology products at a frenetic pace.”
- Netflix’s content obligations “soared to $12.3 billion as of the end of the first quarter of 2016, up 26% from a year earlier” due to its global expansion earlier this year.
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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