November 13, 2017
SHARE
CANADALAND
#207 Village Of The Sprawling Phoenix: New Models for Local News
Is local media doomed? We speak to three entrepreneurs who are making a go of it with three very different models.
Jesse Brown
Host & Publisher
Kevin Sexton
Producer

The Moose Jaw Times-Herald is shutting down next month after serving the community for over 125 years. Other local newspapers like the Nanaimo Daily News and the Guelph Mercury have also recently ended long runs.

Meanwhile, national news institutions like the CBC and the Globe and Mail have dramatically cut back on local coverage.

So what now?

We speak to three entrepreneurs who are trying to fill the gap in local news.

Dave Bidini publishes the West End Phoenix, a recently-launched, print-only monthly newspaper that covers west Toronto.

Jeff Elgie is the CEO of Village Media, a digital-only company that provides hyper-local news to nine small communities, mostly in Ontario.

Jeremy Klaszus is the founder and editor of The Sprawl, a Calgary news site that practices “pop-up journalism.”

More from this series
A former police chief was arrested in Thunder Bay on April 12, 2024. But there’s more to this story than meets the eye.
April 22, 2024
Has journalism been left holding the bag for Big Media’s bad bet? 
April 15, 2024
What is behind the near complete collapse of Canada’s role in peacekeeping around the world?
April 8, 2024
The story that no one asked for, but must be told. The story of one of Canada’s most popular entertainment exports ever. An oral history of the hit show, Just For Laughs Gags.
April 1, 2024
Of all the private intelligence firms in the English-language world, there appears to be just one whose speciality is tracking activists. And it has a branch office in Calgary.
March 25, 2024
Andy Mills’ podcasting work for The New York Times won a Peabody Award and a Pulitzer Prize citation. Then he lost it all.
March 18, 2024
Twenty years of school gets you what… An unpaid internship? An e-bike to deliver ramen? And some sort of side hustle? How did we get here? Today we look at work in Canada.
March 11, 2024
If the polls are anywhere near correct Pierre Poilievre is on track to be our next Prime Minister. And he may be in that job for a long time. So today we’re going to dare to speculate: what would years of Conservative rule look like?
March 4, 2024
all podcasts arrow All Podcasts
CANADALAND