• Search
    • Sign up for our newsletter
    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
    Larry of the North: 70 Years of Arctic Sovereignty
    “I'm just watching the great powers in between me and down there and over there and it's almost like a bad nightmare.” - Larry Audlaluk
    April 21, 2025
    Investigation: What Mark Carney Won’t Say About Brookfield
    “ Here is what I would've done if I was Mark Carney, right? Just let it be out there. If you really have nothing to hide, don't hide.” - Professor Partha Mohanram
    April 14, 2025
    Election Dysfunction and Bozo Eruptions
    “...the tentacles of party discipline and party control have completely grabbed a hold of everybody and they have a really hard time breaking free. We just no longer have politicians who can speak their minds, politicians who can stand up on behalf of their constituents.” -Alex Marland, author of Whipped: Party Discipline in Canada
    April 7, 2025
    When the Alt-Right “Infiltrated” a Small Town
    “   …the City of Pickering has witnessed a growing infiltration of alt right individuals, ideologies, and influences that have created an atmosphere of uncertainty, fear, and intimidation over our Council, our staff, our residents, and indeed the broader community.” - Pickering Mayor Kevin Ashe
    March 31, 2025
    #1128 Election Snap! Here’s Exactly Who You Should Vote For
    “ Look inside yourself, Rosemary. I mean, you start from a prior of conflict and Ill will.” - Prime Minister Mark Carney
    March 24, 2025
    #1124 Who’s Banning Thousands of Books? The Left and the Right
    “We cannot treat libraries as organs of propaganda, and whether it's for progressive values or for conservative values, we should not be treating libraries as simply the PR department for the kind of ideology that we believe in, and trying to ban everything else.” - Ira Wells, author of “On Book Banning”
    March 17, 2025
    #1120 Trudeau Dumpster Dive
    We take a dumpster dive to look at all the legislation that got thrown out when Trudeau prorogued Parliament. Jesse tests the theory that one person’s trash is another’s treasure.
    March 10, 2025
    #1116 How to UnF*ck the CBC
    The CBC: Defund or UnF*ck? The choice is yours as we open up the phone lines to hear what you have to say about the possible futures of the CBC.
    March 3, 2025
    all podcasts arrow All Podcasts
    CANADALAND