Unjust deserts of information
Reduction in Local Journalism Initiative positions leaves communities behind
CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — A handful of years ago, the Town of Happy Valley-Goose Bay had dedicated reporters for print, TV and radio.
Now there is no one, and most times, reporters only contact the town when there’s controversy.
As the media landscape changes and outlets close or downsize, coverage often concentrates on larger citycentres, leaving the country dotted with news deserts — areas without daily or community newspapers.
That means untold stories and less information in communities like Happy ValleyGoose Bay, said Waylon Williams, the town’s manager of public relations.
“It’s not just the municipality. It’s the local Status of Women Council, it’s the various groups and agencies that do so much good work in the community that, a lot of times, it doesn’t get heard about.”
One of the town’s sources of journalism for the past 14 months has been a journalist from SaltWire Network who is based in St. John’s but focused on covering Labrador.
That position was supported by the Local Journalism Initiative program, a federal funding initiative that sponsors reporters covering so-called news deserts, whether geographic ones like smaller municipalities that often do not get media attention, or underserved coverage areas such as immigration and Indigenous affairs.
However, the Labrador LJI reporter’s position is one of many across the country that will not be renewed this year.
The reduction in the number of LJI reporters is worrisome, said Williams.
“It concerns us that we (could) lose that sort of conduit to showcase our culture, our history, our significance within the province, and it just seems now that the focus seems to be on St. John’s, Gander, those kinds of areas.”
FUNDING
News Media Canada is the largest of the seven distributors of LJI funding. It will see a drop of almost 90 positions this year — 124 down from 213 across Canada. In Atlantic Canada, seven positions have been approved, down from 17 last year.
SaltWire Network was granted eight positions in the first year. Only two of those have been renewed.
Under the LJI program, a reporter covering Indigenous affairs has worked at the SaltWire Network-owned Cape Breton Post for over a year. Funding for the position hasn’t been renewed at this point.
Throughout the past year, those eight reporters provided valuable, credible news coverage across Atlantic Canada, said Ian Scott, chief operating officer and executive vice-president of SaltWire Network.
"The Local Journalism Initiative supported important coverage about topics that often don't get exposure in the media. The program helped ensure widespread attention regarding issues concerning rural communities, new Canadians and Aboriginal affairs, amongst others."
Though the federal program was announced in May 2019, recipients did not start getting LJI funding until fall 2019, with much of it not made available until the beginning of 2020.
According to an email from the Department of Canadian Heritage, the delay meant organizations had less time to administer the pot of funding, which led to more positions being filled than had been intended. This reasoning was echoed by Tina Ongkeko, director of LJI with News Media Canada.
“Most of (the organizations), if not all of us, basically decided to do sort of one expanded cycle to use up two years’ worth of funding.”
While application numbers were similar between 2019 and now — around 340 — the reduced number of positions this year is more indicative of the program's intent, said Ongkeko.
“Looking to this year and the next two remaining years of the program, this is really what it was meant to look like.”
ACCESSIBILITY
In P.E.I., which had three LJI positions, municipal councils from tip to tip of the Island received more media attention than they have had in years. Two of those positions were with SaltWire Network.
In Bedeque, former mayor Ron Rayner developed such a good relationship with the SaltWire LJI reporter covering his community that he kept her number on a piece of paper next to his phone, he said.
“She’s just fantastic. She was only a phone call away.”
That accessibility led to consistent, timely coverage, something that won’t happen with the loss of the position.
Though Happy ValleyGoose Bay no longer has an LJI reporter, that reporter has accepted a role with SaltWire Network-owned Telegram and his coverage area will continue to include Labrador.
Still, Williams continues to worry for his community and those like it, he said.
“I would imagine that our voice here in Happy ValleyGoose Bay is probably a drop in a very big pond, and there’s a whole lot of drops, a whole lot of communities, are probably in the same situation right across this country and it is unfortunate, you know.”