Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash

Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash

Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash

Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash

Councillor Scott McKeen talks to reporters at City Hall

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, written and curated by Linda Hoang:

• Postmedia Network and its chain of over 20 publications including the Edmonton Journal and Edmonton Sun, have endorsed Conservative leader Andrew Scheer.
• News Media Canada, which represents hundreds of newspapers across the country, has taken out ads attacking Canada Post for "undercutting local newspapers by using its exclusive access to lock boxes, apartment buildings and condos." The ad was tweeted twice by the Edmonton Journal, on Oct. 19 and Oct. 20, encouraging voters to "speak to your candidates to support local journalists."
• Former CTV Edmonton political reporter Kevin Armstrong is now with City News. Armstrong was in his role at CTV for over 4 years before shifting to government relations in 2013. After two years with the province, he took on several other communications and marketing roles before returning to the news industry. "Who says you can’t go home?" Armstrong tweeted, with a photo of him holding a City News mic at the legislature.
• "The world needs good journalism and good journalists now more than ever," Global Edmonton anchor Gord Steinke tells Cam Tait in a feature about Steinke and the new $21,000 bursary Corus Entertainment created in Steinke’s name at the University of Regina.
• Congratulations to Rob Pepper of KiSS 91.7, this year’s winner of the Edmonton Comedy Festival’s Media Challenge. CTV Edmonton’s Nahreman Issa lost by one point.

Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash

Media-related updates from elsewhere

Here are some non-local media links that I found interesting this week:

• A new report called "Local News is a Public Good" argues the state of Colorado should get more involved in funding local journalism.
• Online ad spending in the United States reached $57.9 billion in the first half of 2019, with mobile accounting for 69% of that.
• The Information plans to launch an app called Ticker to expand its audience while maintaining a subscription-driven business model.
• Quartz has pivoted to focus more on members. “The way I think about Quartz’s evolution is: We just turned seven years old and that’s 50 years in internet years. In that time Quartz has gone through several different eras of digital media,” said CEO Zach Seward.
• From The Atlantic: Is Anyone Going to Get Rich off of Email Newsletters?

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.

At Taproot Edmonton we’re working hard to ensure that local journalism has a future in our city. Join us to be part of the movement.

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, written and curated by Linda Hoang:

• Ryan Jespersen has been recognized for his contributions to mental health in Alberta, winning a Communications Award from the Canadian Mental Health Association Alberta Division Board (CMHA).
• Postmedia political reporter Emma Graney is leaving the press gallery to cover business and energy for the Globe and Mail. "The #ableg beat (and #skpoli before that) was a slice, but I’m incredibly excited for this new challenge," Graney tweeted.
• Corus Entertainment created a journalism scholarship for University of Regina students in honour of Global Edmonton anchor Gord Steinke, who is a U of R alumnus.
• Former Postmedia political columnist Graham Thomson announced he’ll be launching a website with blog soon — one year since leaving the Edmonton Journal.
• One of Edmonton’s oldest print shops, Pioneer Press, is celebrating 125 years in business.

Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash

Media-related updates from elsewhere

Here are some non-local media links that I found interesting this week:

• Apple has apparently approached record labels about bundling Apple Music and Apple TV+ as part of a "super-bundle of media content".
• In the latest media consolidation news: Group Nine Media is acquiring POPSUGAR Inc. in a deal that values the combined company at $1 billion. "According to a statement, the purpose of the merger is to give the combined company more scale for selling digital ads."
• As a tech and media guy, this headline caught my eye: The Washington Post’s Most Valuable Asset Is Now Its Software, Thanks to Jeff Bezos
• Supermarket giant Aldi has stopped selling newspapers and magazines as of Sept. 30 apparently due to a dispute with a distributor, though it does fit with a larger trend happened across the globe. "Kroger, which is America’s largest supermarket chain by revenue, will no longer carry free newspapers and magazines as of October 15, after carrying them (and giving local publishers exposure) for 20 years."
• Deadspin reports that the future of Sports Illustrated is not pretty. "The executives now in charge of Sports Illustrated don’t see any problem with gutting and reinventing a revered publication because they don’t believe anyone is actually a fan of the magazine."

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.

At Taproot Edmonton we’re working hard to ensure that local journalism has a future in our city. Join us to be part of the movement.

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, written and curated by Linda Hoang:

• Sen. Paula Simons is being sued for defamation in a $500,000 lawsuit. The suit against the former Edmonton Journal columnist was launched by the caregivers of a four-year-old girl named Serenity who died in September 2014.
• Jacquie Tam, the University of Alberta’s vice president of university relations, has resigned after criticism of a controversial billboard ad that promoted the benefits of climate change.
• Digital marketing agency Top Draw has announced they are rebranding. "This November, we’ll begin our 26th year in business. We’re gearing up to step into this next era with an invigorated, purpose-led brand," the agency said in a release.
• A recent episode of the Jim Jefferies Show featured a segment about the Edmonton Eskimos team name. The clip, where Jefferies describes Canadians as being ‘so reasonable,’ includes interviews with Esks fans and the Inuit community.
• Vintage Edmonton shared this throwback air check from The Bill and Bill Show, which ran from 1976 to 1993, and was co-hosted by Edmonton broadcasters Bill Matheson and Bill Jackson.

Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash

Media-related updates from elsewhere

Here are some non-local media links that I found interesting this week:

• "In an era in which trust in news is fractured and employment is precarious, we need to look more closely at the ways that journalists’ sense of their own professional value — or lack thereof — influences the work they do and the environment in which they do it," writes Mark Coddington.
• Joe Biden’s team has written to TV news channels asking them to keep Rudy Giuliani off the air. “By giving him your air time, you are allowing him to introduce increasingly unhinged, unfounded and desperate lies into the national conversation,” the letter reads.
• Maybe I should figure out what this TikTok thing is all about. The company has earned more than $7 billion USD in revenue through the first half of the year. "Analysts have called ByteDance a strong threat to other Chinese tech industry firms including social media and gaming giant Tencent Holdings Ltd and search engine leader Baidu Inc."
• Food52, the recipe site co-founded by former New York Times columnist Amanda Hesser, has been sold for more than $80 million USD to The Chernin Group. "That’s a nice and somewhat surprising outcome for Food52, which faced competition from around the internet over the course of its lifetime."
• From CJR: Five tips for journalists on covering trans and nonbinary people

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.

At Taproot Edmonton we’re working hard to ensure that local journalism has a future in our city. Join us to be part of the movement.

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, written and curated by Linda Hoang:

• Should media (including bloggers) covering a Fringe show be obligated to write a review of every show they see? This question was posed by Globe and Mail western arts correspondent Marsha Lederman after she was denied press access to the Vancouver Fringe, citing "controversy over media passes at the Edmonton Fringe."
• Congratulations to Ryan Jackson, who is joining the City of Edmonton’s Communications and Engagement Department as their new staff video storyteller.
• Global Edmonton graphic designer Tonia Gloweski was profiled at the NAIT Nugget. "[Graphics are] another tool to use to get our point across and help the viewers digest the story a bit more," she says.
• Former A-Channel news personality Rob Hislop is featured in Marty Forbes’ latest Edmonton Sun column. Hislop has ventured into photography and his photos from two trips to Africa can be seen at a Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts exhibit.
• Allarco Entertainment, an Edmonton-based company that operates Super Channel, has filed a lawsuit against Best Buy, Staples, London Drugs and Canada Computers for alleged complicity "in promoting content piracy by selling Internet streaming devices."

Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash

Media-related updates from elsewhere

Here are some non-local media links that I found interesting this week:

• The 2019 Emmy’s were broadcast on Sunday night with viewership plummeting to an all-time low, reaching just 6.9 million viewers in the 18-49 demographic. "That also represents a 33% rating decline on last year’s Monday night show on NBC and roughly the same on the 2017 ceremony which also aired on a Sunday night on CBS."
• A.G. Sulzberger, publisher of the New York Times, says in a new op-ed there is "a worldwide assault on journalists and journalism" and that "I do not believe President Trump has any intention of changing course or muting his attacks on journalists."
• The US-based Institute for Nonprofit News’ annual INN Index says that "nonprofit news outlets brought in $450 million in annual revenue — $100 million more than the previous year." Just 12% of that comes from earned sources.
• After raising $2.6 million to launch an English-language office, The Correspondent will have just one full-time journalist based in the US. The site is aiming to launch next week.
• From Nieman Reports: What Happens When Weekly Newspapers Disappear? "No one at city council and school board meetings, politicians rarely held accountable—and fewer stories for farmers to read and decide whether they need to get mad."

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.

At Taproot Edmonton we’re working hard to ensure that local journalism has a future in our city. Join us to be part of the movement.

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, written and curated by Linda Hoang:

• After 30 years, veteran CTV Edmonton anchor Daryl McIntyre has signed off for the final time with the station. In his last broadcast on CTV News at 6 on Sept. 13, McIntyre bid farewell to viewers. Watch the video at ctvnews.ca.
• Kent Morrison has officially replaced Shaye Ganam as Global News Morning anchor. Morrison will also continue to anchor Global News at Noon.
• After being fired from the Edmonton Journal for a controversial open letter to Jason Kenney, writer and comedian Tim Mikula is back at it, writing Old Man Mikula’s Controversial Opinions for Gig City.
• Congratulations to Anthony Johnson and Dr. James Makokis, an Indigenous, two-spirit couple from Amiskwaciy-Wâskahikan (Edmonton), who won this season of The Amazing Race Canada.
• The 2019 Ember Awards, which celebrates digital excellence from individuals and organizations across Alberta, are accepting submissions until Sept. 18. Tickets are also on sale for the awards night.

Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash

Media-related updates from elsewhere

Here are some non-local media links that I found interesting this week:

• Taproot is participating in Covering Climate Now, an initiative to provided focused coverage of the climate crisis that more than 250 news organizations around the world have committed to.
• Netflix has landed the global streaming rights to all 180 episodes of Seinfeld starting in 2021.
• From The Washington Post: TikTok’s Beijing roots fuel censorship suspicion as it builds a huge U.S. audience
• Bloomberg says it is on track to double its digital subscribers by the end of the year, with revenue from subscribers reaching double-digit percentage of total digital revenue in 2020.
• "In these contentious days of bad-faith politics and maneuvering for advantage, the presentation and framing of stories — as well as their dead-on accuracy — are more important than ever," writes Margaret Sullivan. "There’s little room for error and not a shred of forgiveness for it."

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.

At Taproot Edmonton we’re working hard to ensure that local journalism has a future in our city. Join us to be part of the movement.