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. The town hall was viewed by 327 community members.
The journalistic content produced by our LJI reporter is helping community members engage critically in the issues they care about. One such example is a recent decision by Toronto Housing to name a new developer for the final stages of the development of Regent Park, despite the community's close and long standing relationship they had with the previous developer. Despite concerns the community is preparing to work closely with the new developer and Toronto Housing and feel that the presence of a responsive community media of the kind offered by FOCUS under the LJI program, is one way of keeping both the developer and the housing authority accountable to the community.
The journalistic content is also contributing to important discussions in the community about Black Lives Matter and racism, Food In-security, Homelessness, Community Benefits related to redevelopment, and how residents are coping with COVID-19.
As we seek to better reflect the unique views and essential stories of the community, our past and current filming projects serve to introduce new individuals and organizations to the importance of local media and presenting stories that might not receive the same coverage from mainstream media sources. The model that FOCUS has developed for dissemination of local news has impacted not only the Regent Park area, but we now have contributed to building new partnerships with Moss Park and St. James Town. Local news preserves the inherent vibrancy of diverse communities.
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About LJI
LJI Impact is the section of commediaportal.ca where the journalists and their organizations participating in CACTUS' Local Journalism Initiative can share their greatest successes.
Through the written stories, photos and videos you see in the LJI Impact section, you'll be able to read first hand accounts about how the presence of a community journalist is making a difference in communities across Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative and the Community Media Portal.
The Community Media Portal is a gateway to the audio-visual media created by community media centres across Canada. These include traditional community TV and radio stations, as well as online and new media production centres.
Community media are not-for-profit production hubs owned and operated by the communities they serve, established both to provide local content and reflection for their communities, as well as media training and access for ordinary citizens to the latest tools of media production, whether traditional TV and radio, social and online media, virtual reality, augmented reality or video games.
The Community Media Portal has been funded by the Local Journalism Initiative (the LJI) of the Department of Canadian Heritage, and administered by the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) in association with the Fédération des télévisions communautaires autonomes du Québec (the Fédération). Under the LJI, over 100 journalists have been placed in underserved communities and asked to produce civic content that underpins Canadian democratic life.
