The future of the news media in Canada was the focus of a talk by GJIL co-director Alfred Hermida to the UBC Emeritus College.
In the online talk on March 23, titled Ruin, Resilience and Renewal, Hermida put in context some the challenges facing Canadian journalism. He argued that the current situation is more than just a story of the decline of commercial legacy media.
Instead he pointed to the more than 120 digital-born journalism organizations launched in Canada since 2020 identified in his research with Mary Lynn Young.
He argued these novel organizations, many with a mission to improve journalism, offered hope for a more responsive and inclusive and more representative journalism.
Hermida concluded that although there are signs of resilience and renewal, there is a pressing need to create structures to support independent journalism, particularly in terms of media policies that help the development, launch and longevitiy of new journalism organizations.