Media Monday Edmonton: Update #312

Taproot Edmonton’s latest Media Roundup was published today. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday morning!

Here are a few select updates from today’s Media Roundup:

Friday, August 31 marked the end of Gordon Kent’s reporting days at the Edmonton Journal. “After 32 years, I’m retiring to travel, maybe look for contract work and mostly find the three hobbies my wife requires to keep me out of her hair,” he tweeted.
Graham Thomson shared his farewell column on Friday.
Friday was also Shawna Randolph’s last day on Alberta Primetime. Here’s her message to viewers.
Mike Ross wrote about the recent changes in local radio, and particularly at K-97. “People in Edmonton radio get fired all the time – but the downsizing is escalating at an alarming rate.” He noted that Melissa Wright, recently fired from K-97, is “a broadcasting pioneer: the first female announcer on a rock station in Canada to host a show solo.”
“The problem for governments is, when they make an announcement, social media turns it into a big debate.” Grant Ainsley tackles why politicians still need the news media.

Trans Mountain Pipeline : Premier Notley, photo by Premier of Alberta

And here is some non-local media news that I found interesting this week:

Here’s a long read from Alan Rusbridger, former editor-in-chief of the Guardian. “By early 2017 the world had woken up to a problem that, with a mixture of impotence, incomprehension and dread, journalists had seen coming for some time,” he wrote. “News, the thing that helped people understand their world, that oiled the wheels of society, that pollinated communities, that kept the powerful honest – news was broken.”
From The Atlantic: Trump Has Changed How Teens View the News.
“When the reading brain skims texts, we don’t have time to grasp complexity, to understand another’s feelings or to perceive beauty. We need a new literacy for the digital age.” Maryanne Wolf writing in the Guardian says skim reading is the new normal.
According to a new WSJ report, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey “overruled his staff on booting conspiracy theorist Alex Jones off the platform.”
Here is the New York Times film critic A.O. Scott on the use of technology for reviewing movies.

Follow Edmonton media news using the hashtag #yegmedia and be sure to check out Mediagazer for the latest media news from elsewhere. You can see past Media Monday Edmonton entries here. If you have a tip or suggestion for future updates, let me know.

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Published by Mack Male