Here’s my latest update on local media stuff:
- Karen announced the Alberta Podcast Network at PodSummit over the weekend! I love these conference doodles about the news. “We have a lot of details to work out, but we now have some runway to create a self-sustaining network that gets some money into podcasters’ pockets, and helps businesses who want to reach their listeners in a powerful way,” she wrote at Seen and Heard in Edmonton. Go follow @albertapodnet on Twitter. This is very exciting news for Alberta’s independent content producers and is another part of “what comes next” for local media.
- As one new initiative starts up, another comes to an end. Capital Ideas announced that it is shutting down after five years. “Capital Ideas, the entity, is going to step aside. But the entrepreneurial community in each city remains, stronger than ever, and we can’t wait to see what it does next.” There’s a farewell event taking place on Tuesday evening this week.
- Congratulations to Paula Simons on being recognized by the Canadian Committee for World Press Freedom for “exposing critical gaps in Alberta’s child welfare system.” She was also named runner-up in the Politics category for this year’s National Newspaper Awards!
- Paula was featured on CANADALAND recently to discuss the story about Alberta’s child welfare system with guest host Omar Mouallem. “I was so deeply grateful for the chance to share Serenity’s story with a national audience – and to put her fate into the larger context of Alberta’s broken child welfare system,” she wrote on Facebook.
- Congratulations to Candas Jane Dorsey, recipient of the 2017 Golden Pen Award presented “to acknowledge the lifetime achievements of outstanding Alberta writers.”
- The Fort McMurray Today/Edmonton Journal/Edmonton Sun were named winners of the Breaking News category in this year’s National Newspaper Awards for their coverage of the Alberta wildfire and the evacuation of Fort McMurray. Metro Calgary and Metro Edmonton were named runners-up in the same category for the same story. Well deserved!
- The next day though, the Edmonton Sun found itself in hot water over its use of a photo of the Fort McMurray wildfire that was taken by Terry Reith for CBC News.
- Here’s a feature on Omar Mouallem in Langara College’s online news section. “After moving to Vancouver from Alberta to become a filmmaker, Omar discovered his love for storytelling led him down a different path as a freelance writer for some of Canada’s top magazines and the likes of Reader’s Digest, NewYorker.com, Rolling Stone, and The Guardian.” I wrote about part of his journey back in 2011.
- Episode 65 of the Seen and Heard in Edmonton podcast features Fawnda Mithrush, “who is managing director of NorthwestFest, Edmonton’s international festival of nonfiction film, art and music” and the brain behind the LunchPods series of live podcast shows.
- Here are three generations of Edmonton Sun editors: Jose Rodriguez, Steve Serviss, and Dave Breakenridge.
- Eighteen Bridges is launching its 10th issue at Yellowhead Brewery on Thursday this week. Tickets are $15 or $10 for current subscribers.
- The Athabasca Advocate weekly newspaper is looking for a Reporter/Photographer. The deadline to apply is May 15.
- Five-year-old Liam Hirsch is a social media star after his “hysterical facial expressions and spirited dancing” during Game 6 at Rogers Place last night landed him on the NHL’s official Twitter account.
Capital Ideas 61: Offbeat marketing ideas, photo by Capital Ideas Edmonton
And here is some slightly less local media stuff:
- Vicky Mochama writing in Metro: Do black female writers feel valued in Canadian media?
- A new report from the American Press Institute examines wny people subscribe and what it says about the future of journalism. I haven’t finished reading it all, but already there’s some really interesting stuff there. For instance: “And contrary to the idea that young people will not pay for news because information on the internet is free, nearly 4 in 10 adults under age 35 are paying for news.”
- Politico says a new analysis of the available data proves the media bubble is real and is worse than you think. “Concentrated heavily along the coasts, the bubble is both geographic and political.”
- Sinclair Broadcast Group has a $3.9 billion agreement to acquire Tribune Media, “a deal that will bring more than 200 TV stations under one roof and vault Sinclair into the big leagues of national TV.” If the deal goes ahead, Sinclair’s TV stations would reach 72% of U.S. households, “nearly twice the reach of its nearest broadcast competitors” Nexstar, CBS, and Fox.
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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