Local Journalism Initiative Impact

ARICHAT - The third anniversary of the Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) at Telile Community Television gave TELILE 24/7 host Adam Cooke the chance to catch up with fellow participants under the auspices of the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) in Atlantic Canada and the Prairies. 

Making her third consecutive annual appearance on TELILE 24/7, Vicki Hogarth of CHCO-TV in St. Andrews, New Brunswick was this time accompanied by Rrain Prior, the news director for Neepawa Access Community Television (NACT) in Manitoba. 

I have written a number of stories for the NB Media Co-op but one series in particular made an impact last October. 

We reported on Oct.11, 2022, that children of some international students enrolled in career colleges were being denied access to public school. 

The Quebec government is opening a private-for profit investor owned facility in Montreal, which the government says will alleviate wait times in clinics and emergency rooms. But with profits over patients, can we really trust a facility owned by shareholders seeking a profit to aid our healthcare system?

CUTV's reporters has revealed many incidences of racism and other forms of oppression in Quebec's healthcare system to show Quebecer's that there is a strong need for the provincial government to admit that systemic racism exists in the healthcare system and to gather the political will to change policies and procedures in hospitals.

LJI Journalist Vicki Hogarth who is the News Director at CHCO Television in Saint Andrews, New Brunswick was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee medal in recognition of her outstanding COVID-19 coverage for New Brunswick during the pandemic as well as for her dedication to providing local content to the underserved area of Southwest New Brunswick. 

During the long history of the Focus Media Arts Centre’s presence in Regent Park, we have been telling the stories of Regent Park. These stories recognize both the struggles and aspirations of generations of area residents, from newcomers, to seniors, to youth, Focus has provided an opportunity to share knowledge, connect with community, and to make a difference at both the local and broader levels of society: from community centre to City Hall.

Over the thirty year history of Focus Media Arts Centre, it has been the principle concern of the organization to chronicle the story of Regent Park. Through print, radio, and video  Focus Media Arts Centre has engaged with a range of diverse communities to promote inclusivity through the application of a socially just framework.

While not the only interview program on NACTV, the "Decision Makers" debuted in 2022 with the mission to sit down with some of the people who have a big influence on the day-to-day lives of community members to learn more about them, their perspective, and their thoughts on issues within the town. These people included members of the Town Council along with department heads, school board representatives, business leaders, and others.

In my program "Community Hour," I touch on various topics, but we are most often talking about immigration and adaptation to a new life in Canada. I am an immigrant, and I understand well how difficult it is to start life in a new country from scratch. I invite people to the studio to talk about their immigration journey, so based on their experience, they give valuable advice to newcomers.I've been working at a U-Multicultural Community Television for four months. I've noticed how much it means to the community during this time.

Over the past months, "Civic Platform" has provided many opportunities for communities in Winnipeg to make their voices heard widely. The program has covered their challenges and how their lives could be improved through the proposals they present.  

The most significant development of "Civic Platform" was the addition of Arabic programming for that community in their native language, Arabic. This increased their ability to share their concerns and challenges with their community..  

The Schreiber Media Centre, the area's local community television portal, found out its importance to the community last fall when it had to close down because of staffing issues. People really missed it. For nearly three years, the media centre had been growing in importance in the community. Starting out as a concept for developing media literacy through the local library, it soon grew in scope to include local journalism and it had become a bit of a fixture in town.

Barrie Community Media (BCM) has been impacting the local community in various ways including influencing local decision-makers by highlighting homelessness; generating dialogue about important civic issues; and strengthening the community by showcasing the diversity of the community.

Influencing local decision-makers - 

PORT HAWKESBURY - In a milestone for Telile Community Television's participation in the Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) as overseen by the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS), the work of an LJI journalist was quoted extensively in a front-page story published by one of the longest-running weekly newspapers in Cape Breton Island. It was and is an important topic for Nova Scotians - the imposition of a carbon tax on petroleum products such as gasoline, diesel and home heating oil.

WINNIPEG - U-Multicultural TV has recently hired Yuliia Kovalenko, who fled from Ukraine shortly after the war started. As a journalist, hired under he Local Journalist Initiative of Heritage Canada and run by Cactus (the Association of Community Television Users and Stations), she enhances the impact of local journalism in her new city of Winnipeg.

C’est le 29 novembre dernier que Télé-Cœur tenait son assemblée générale annuelle. En plus d’y déposer ses états financiers, les administrateurs de cette télévision communautaire couvrant les MRC de Bécancour et de Nicolet-Yamaska et les communautés d’Odanak et de Wôlinak ont présenté un rapport d’activité d’une année 2021-2022 marquée par la production de contenu journalistique civique.

Article dans le Courrier de la Nouvelle-Écosse - le 2 décembre 2022

Gabrielle Samson est de retour dans sa communauté pour représenter la francophonie de son coin de pays. Cette Catou a récemment obtenu un poste à la télévision communautaire Telile qui lui a permis de revenir dans la région de Richmond. 

November 22, 2022

Sipisishk Communications has created the Treaty Ten News program to cover stories that reflect our daily lives and inform our region of the issues impacting the environment and social economic planning. The history of our communities and documenting the present as we play for our futures; a television program to share these stories on local television and to share on Youtube, Facebook and the CACTUS community media portal where we archive the news programmes and show the community of local stations our stories and perspectives. 

November 21, 2022

November 8, 2022

This year, for the civic election Tri-Cities Community TV (TCCTV) produced a series, of half-hour interviews with 40 candidates running for council positions in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, and Port Moody. For years voter participation in local elections has been low ( less than 30 % ); the interview series aimed to raise the profile of local elections and thus encourage increased voter turnout.

All videos were made available on TCCTV's Youtube Channel (tricitiestv) and the Local Media Portal funded by Heritage Canada.

Télé-Cœur : une télévision de plus en plus civique

Image: Schreiber residents enjoying the shores of Lake Superior.

August 22, 2022

Schreiber Media Centre has entered its 3rd year in the programme. This renewal helped to reinforce the commitment the media centre has in serving the community of Schreiber. As a journalist it is always nice to receive recognition for ones work as quite often we are unnoticed or even overlooked in the general scheme of things.

October 15, 2022 - It started with a few pointed questions to current Town Council members during their interviews with the new show The Decision Makers, and grew into a public conversation about how well the make-up of the Neepawa Town Council reflects the diversity of the community. NACTV continued to pursue the topic in on-camera conversations with local community members as well as in the community itself, digging into what barriers exist to broader participation in local politics.

Cette Info express est consacrée à l’inauguration du Trottoir Santé Chauffant à la Coop Santé Shooner-Jauvin. Notre journaliste Stéphane Lévesque y présente des allocutions de Sylvain Houle, Liette Benoit, Donald Martel, Louis Plamondon, Josée Hamel, Karl Shooner, Guillaume Brouillard, Julie Côté prononcées le 29 septembre 2022.

October 15, 2022 - Barrie Community Media has been focusing on important civic issues related to women, minorities, environment, homelessness and drug crisis among others. Our coverage of these issues, constant presence at related events and interaction with leaders including Mayor Jeff Lehman has been increasing the discussion, influencing decision makers by keeping the pressure and strengthening the community. 

ARICHAT - While their relationships with Telile Community Television and Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) participant Adam Cooke predate the launch of the station's partnership with the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS), the Warden of Richmond County and the area's Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) are both grateful for the coverage each has received over the past two and a half years. 

ARICHAT - Nearly three decades after it set up shop as part of a strategy to revitalize an area devastated by the downturn in the Atlantic ground fishery, Telile Community Television is reaching far beyond its original coverage area as a result of its participation in the Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) as administered by the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS). 

On Sunday, June 27th, 2021, the graduation ceremony of Campobello Island Consolidated School was broadcast live on Charlotte County Television in order to facilitate COVID-19 restrictions and public guidelines.

CHCO-TV received a 2020 "Certificate of Recognition" for being a "Champion of Cultural Diversity" from the New Brunswick Multicultural Council for work on programs such as the LJI-funded NBWA: New Brunswickers Want Action, which examines systemic racism in New Brunswick. CHCO-TV was recommended for the award by the Deputy Mayor of Saint Andrews Brad Henderson. Henderson said, "The community and the province of New Brunswick are lucky to have an independent news outlet like CHCO-TV that is willing to provide a platform for important issues and voices in our community.

CBC Atlantic and CBC New Brunswick used CHCO-TV as a news source for a story on a body of a missing woman found on Navy Island near Saint Andrews. The body of woman was discovered by a group of local teens who had kayaked to the island. When RCMP and firefighters arrived on scene to recover the body, CHCO-TV was the only news outlet at the site covering the event. We offered our video footage to CBC for use in their news broadcasts. CBC New Brunswick used CHCO-TV's video footage for two different newscasts, and CBC Atlantic used CHCO-TV's video footage for one newscast.  

Grâce à l’initiative de journaliste local de Patrimoine Canada, TVC7 Abitibi a pu bénéficier d’une aide considérable pour l’embauche d’un journaliste afin d’informer la population locale sur l’actualité et les enjeux de notre région. En pleine reconstruction, cette aide a donné un second souffle à la télévision communautaire d’Amos afin qu’elle puisse étendre ces activités et améliorer son offre télévisuelle et informationnelle.

How does one measure the impact of a project on a community without having any actual previous data to compare to? Would the Local Journalism Initiative provide any benefit to the area it serves and how so?

(The following story recently appeared in Le Courrier de la Nouvelle-Ecosse, Nova Scotia's only French-language newspaper. Written by Le Courrier's Richmond County correspondent Robert Fougere, it is a sign of the impact our new French-language interview series Notre Cote and the overall LJI programming from Telile Community Television have made in our community's Acadan population.)

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The province of New Brunswick has once again extended the seasonal ferry from Deer Island to Campobello Island ferry until April 5th. The latest ferry extension means the approximately 900 residents of Campobello will continue to be able to access mainland New Brunswick without having to go through Maine. 

Le projet d’initiative de journalisme local (IJL) a permis à Télé-Soleil de maintenir le volet information de sa programmation. Les (très) nombreux chapeaux portés par la directrice de Télé-Soleil, Sophie Ricard, qui faisait fonctionner à elle-seule la station depuis le départ de son dernier journaliste en date il y a trois ans, lui permettait difficilement d’assurer la réalisation d’un contenu d’information pour la communauté de l’est de la Haute-Gaspésie.

Le projet d’initiative de journaliste local (IJL) se veut au cœur des actions de CTRB-TV, la télévision locale et régionale du grand Berthier et de la MRC d’Autray. La présence de notre journaliste local, Chloé Lemon, en plus de libérer les autres membres de l’équipe afin que ceux-ci performent davantage dans leurs domaines créatifs respectifs (culture, montage, tournage et captation) a permis d’atteindre nos objectifs, d’offrir à nos téléspectateurs davantage d’informations de qualité.

Word of mouth is spreading about NewWest.tv as we are providing excellent background information on many of the issues that are confronting the people of New West. Our analytics on social media have been rising too.

How does community media carve out a niche in a community with established media? As a brand new community media organization, the past months have been stuffed with learning more about answers to that question. 

While programming schedules, membership policies and more have all been moving forward, we’ve dived into conversations with community members. 

L’initiative de journalisme local a permis à la Télévision communautaire de l’Érable (TVCÉ) de mettre sur pied une émission dédiée à l’information grâce à l’embauche de Lydia Jacques, journaliste avec plus de 30 ans d’expérience. Celle-ci assure une qualité notable dans ses recherches de sujets intéressants, mais également par des invités qui font l’événement et par une animation qui vulgarise les nouvelles locales et régionales.

As a result of the journalistic activities FOCUS continues to gain influence and awareness around the community. In meetings FOCUS is invited to fulfil media roles including creating posters and live streaming of important meetings such as live-streaming and documenting a local all- candidates meeting for the October 26, 2020, Toronto Centre By-Election, the recording of which was viewed by 962 people.  Another example is the filming and archiving of the Virtual Community Town Hall promoting community awareness of COVID-19 and the supports available to the community.

PORT HAWKESBURY, N.S. - Maritimers have a longstanding reputation of supporting each other and welcoming people into their homes, often serving a cup of well-steeped tea to a stranger on the well-worn premise that "a stranger's just a friend you haven't met."

However, for the three Atlantic Canadian participants in the Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) launched by the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS), the level of support and camaraderie extends far beyond geography.