Taproot Edmonton’s latest Media Roundup was published today. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday morning.
Local updates from the Media Roundup
Here are a few select updates from today’s Media Roundup:
- VUE Weekly, which started in 1995 and merged with SEE Magazine in 2011, has announced it will stop publishing at the end of November. It had just published its 1,200th issue in October. For more on the history of Edmonton’s alt weeklies, check out this Gig City feature. See also Avenue Edmonton editor Steven Sandor’s Twitter thread.
- 92.5 The ‘CHUCK switched into its all-Christmas music format on Friday morning. It’ll return to its normal programming on Dec. 26. A little further up the dial, 96.3 Capital FM switched to Christmas music this week as well.
- Taproot Edmonton won silver at the Canadian Online Publishing Awards in the Best Interactive/Infographic Story category for our 2017 Municipal Election Microsite! Other local winners include the Edmonton Community Foundation’s The Well Endowed Podcast and Let’s Find Out which picked up gold and silver respectively in the Best Podcast (Consumer) category.
- I spoke at City Council’s Executive Committee on Tuesday about the renewal of an advertising agreement between the City of Edmonton and Postmedia, arguing that “the City has an opportunity to instead invest some of that money in outlets like Taproot that are building a brighter future for journalism right here in Edmonton.”
- Corus’ Edmonton brands are “joining forces to showcase Festival City” during the Grey Cup Festival this week. “For the run of the festival, the 630 CHED Information Centre will act as the central hub, where fans can learn about events on festival grounds and around the city.” Global Edmonton will be broadcasting live from the festival.
Fighting to get full value for Alberta oil, photo by Premier of Alberta
Media-related updates from elsewhere
And here is some non-local media news that I found interesting this week:
- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau highlighted the importance of free and independent media recently. “When citizens cannot have rigorous analysis of the exercise of the power that is in their name and they have granted, the rest of the foundation of our democracies start to erode at the same time as cynicism arises.”
- A new estimate suggests the U.S. daily newspaper industry has seen annual revenue fall from a high of $55 billion to less than $20 billion today, with just $1.5 billion in profits. “By mind-bending comparison, Google alone takes in about $37 billion a year in EBITDA.”
- Some people will pay for a subscription to a news site, which is encouraging. But how many total subscriptions will they pay for? “If someone’s first digital subscription is to the Times or the Post — how many are willing to pay for a second, or a third, or a fourth news site?”
- While smart speakers are once again expected to be a popular gift this holiday season, the use of news on the devices is lagging. The main complaint is that news briefings as they currently exist are too long.
- Here is Jay Rosen’s pitch to his followers to join The Correspondent. “What I want you to know is that I not only endorse what they are doing. It is what I would do if I started my own site.”
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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