Here’s my latest update on local media stuff:
- Saturday night was one of those nights for journalists and other members of the local media (for details of the attacks, see my links from yesterday). Big breaking news brings with it clarity of purpose for everyone involved in producing the news, but it also means long hours, a lack of information, and yes, some criticism. On the whole, I think local journalists did a fine job on Saturday night.
- There was lots of back-patting by journalists over the way local media handled the events of Saturday night. There was also some criticism for sensationalism and sharing unverified information. Jana Pruden posted a good thread on the context of information in a breaking news event.
- Locals were paying attention to the news on Saturday evening of course, but it spread beyond our city fairly quickly too, with Fox News and others picking up the story. As the news spread, and especially as Catherine Griwkowsky did a live hit on CNN, #yegmedia was trending. Global Edmonton has a brief recap of how social media was used after the attacks.
- Hina Alam has joined Postmedia’s news team here in Edmonton. She was most recently a staff reporter at the Toronto Star.
- The launch party for the Alberta Podcast Network was a big success last week, with a fantastic turnout of creators and supporters of local podcasts. Here’s a recap and links to the speeches and interviews. Congrats to Karen and the team of volunteers that made it happen!
- Rogers held a media launch for CityNews at Rogers Place on Friday afternoon hosted by Gene Principe and featuring: Dave Budge, VP News and Information; Colette Watson, SVP TV Broadcast Operations; Shelley Russell, General Sales Manager for Edmonton; and Scott Fralick, Supervising Producer. I plan to write more about CityNews in the days ahead.
- Jeff at Edmonton Quotient has a good roundup of all the local media coverage of the municipal election.
- Marty Forbes writes about Terry Jones in his latest column at the Sun. “Terry is a great promoter of this city and understands how sports can be a key driver for community pride,” he wrote. The October 11 edition of the Edmonton Broadcasters Club luncheon will honour Terry.
- A special edition of CBC’s Edmonton AM took place at Remedy Cafe in Terwillegar on Wedesday evening. Here’s the recap.
- The latest episode of the Sound Off Podcast with Matt Cundill features Sonic 102.9 FM’s Lauren Hunter. “We talk about everything from how to tackle the social media beast, to what makes a post go viral, and, of course, Connor McDavid and the Connor McPortrait.”
- The next meeting of the Edmonton Podcasting Meetup is scheduled for Saturday, October 21 at Variant Edition Comics & Culture. The event will feature Doug Hoyer, “who has composed more Edmonton podcast theme music than anyone else on Earth (probably).”
- The YMCA of Northern Alberta is looking for a Senior Communications Coordinator.
- OilersNation is looking for new sales representatives to join the team.
Vigil for victims of Edmonton terror attacks, photo by Premier of Alberta
And here is some slightly less local media stuff:
- When the news broke on Saturday night here in Edmonton, it was great to see many people pointing to A Consumer’s Guide to Breaking News from NPR. Always good to have that link handy.
- When it comes to digital revenue for news, we’ve moved from “nobody will pay for news” to “not more than a tiny group of people will pay for news.” It’s slow, but it’s progress.
- Netflix plans to spend $7 billion USD on productions next year, and $500 million CAD of that will be right here in Canada, thanks to a new deal it has struck with the government.
- The Pew Research Center has looked at more than 3,000 news stories during the first 100 days of the Trump presidency across 24 media outlets and found that “five specific topics dominated coverage about Trump and the administration.”
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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