“From PEI to the Haida Gwaii!”
From October 20 to 22, Rachel Pulfer of Journalists for Human Rights travelled to Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island. She was representing JHR at Putting the Local Back Into Local Journalism, the second edition of a conference pulling together local news publishers, philanthropists and government.
Sponsored by the Rideau Hall Foundation, the Webster Foundation and the Michener Awards, the conference was a golden opportunity to meet with and hear from a cross-section of publishers from across the country – “from PEI to the Haida Gwaii!” – as well as those interested in supporting independent local journalism in this country. In the consultative design phase of new domestic programming focused on sustainability for the sector, Pulfer attended primarily in listening mode.
Over two days, journalists and publishers made common cause, shared best practices, and argued over the pros and cons of everything from working with AI to finding pathways to long-term financial sustainability.
We heard from Ed Greenspon, who set the table for the conference with some ideas he is working on with sector leaders, government, philanthropy as well as JHR to build a pathway towards sustainability for media in Canada.
We also heard from Julia Wallace, launch director for the Knight Center for the Future of News at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. In conversation with Michener Foundation President Margo Goodhand, she described how Americans are grappling with the question of how to build long term sustainability for local news organizations. (Answer: it remains a major challenge, even with the benefit of well-endowed American foundations pooling funds to support local news.)
We heard from Paris Brown, publisher of The Baltimore Times. She shared a provocative set of ideas regarding the use of AI in journalism, including the use of composite and deepfake images to help illustrate stories.
Brown’s presentation, paired with input from tech-exec-turned-executive director-of-The-Walrus Jennifer Hollett, sparked a lively discussion on the pros and cons of the challenge that is AI. Halifax Examiner publisher Tim Bousquet rose to tell Brown that, with the greatest of respect, he “fundamentally disagreed” with her use of deepfakes in journalism. Pulfer pointed out that while, yes, journalists have to figure out how best to use these tools without compromising journalistic integrity, it’s equally important to cover generative AI companies, given the math of investments and the staggering cost of setting up AI data infrastructure vs promised return, let alone the ecological cost of supporting the electricity needs of those data centres, simply doesn’t add up.
On day two, a panel of philanthropists and media entrepreneurs shared best practices for working with philanthropy. Ollie Williams of Cabin Radio shared a case study of how this can work: that with a small grant from Journalists for Human Rights, RBC Foundation and Canadian Heritage this past summer, he was able to onboard two talented young Indigenous journalists, one of whom, Jasmine Nasogaluak, he subsequently hired. (The other, Ehxea Antoine, is now at journalism school.)
The final session, entitled “Getting off the Island,” helped focus conference goers on what they can commit to doing towards the common cause of a thriving independent journalism sector, and to define next steps. In discussion with one another and in response to some of the great ideas that surfaced in the room, we came up with a list of priorities that will help guide JHR’s work in this area in the months to come.
Priority #1: Research. We need a baseline of who is working in media in Canada, where they are, what they are doing, and, crucially, what’s actually working, particularly when it comes to building audience trust while also growing revenue.
Priority #2: Community Learning Commons / Incubator/Accelerator. We need a hub for common services, whether it be curriculum for capacity building, an umbrella ad agency that helps ad buyers source and place ads in local media organizations across the country, or an incubator/ accelerator for new business ideas, co-sponsored by private media, philanthropy and government.
Priority #3 Local Media Summit We need to make a conference that convenes journalists and support organizations an annual priority, coordinated over a rotating group of supporters and funders.
Priority #4 Capacity Building We need to work with local and digital media associations as well as funders to co-design and develop programming for capacity building and granting towards long term sustainability.
JHR is grateful to the Michener Board and the Rideau Hall Foundation for the opportunity to attend. We look forward to connecting and collaborating with many of those in attendance, as we collectively lean into the wicked problem that is securing long term financial sustainability for independent news organizations in Canada.
