This week we present anouther round table, this one featuring Vice News reporter Hilary Beaumont, Globe & Mail reporter Selena Ross, G&M weekend columnist Tabatha Southey and Halifax Examiner editor Tim Bousquet. In it, they talk about ‘millennial journalism’ and examine gender in the sector. But while drinking. So it’s, like, totally fun.
Also, this week the newly-formed Brunswick Street Tenants’ Association delivered a letter to Harbour City Homes to get more information about the decision to sell off a sizable swath of affordable housing in the North End. As of this recording, the homes are officially on the market, potentially displacing dozens of tenants.
[iframe style=”border:none” src=”http://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/3764592/height/100/width/480/thumbnail/no/theme/legacy” height=”100″ width=”480″ scrolling=”no” allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen]
I really enjoyed this episode because four of my favourite print media folk were featured. What really struck me was that the three women, who are of a younger age, were so in tune with the marketing aspect of reporting now. They discussed click bait, the evolution in newspapers, target audiences, etcetera. And then when Tabitha asked Tim, the older dude in the group, who his target market was, he didn’t really know, didn’t really want to know, and hadn’t really included it in any business planning.
Perhaps this is a reflection of the new paradigm? Traditionally reporters wrote the stories and others wrote the headlines and focused on selling ads and newspapers. Now the younger reporters are still writing the stories, but are also focused on getting followers, clicks, and readers… essentially taking on the marketing too? It sured seemed so from that discussion.