For immediate release
Local Journalism Initiative to increase local news production
Ottawa, November 5, 2019 – The Community Radio Fund of Canada (CRFC) has launched the Local Journalism Initiative to increase the production of local civic news by community and campus radio stations and type B Indigenous radio stations serving areas where local news is poor or simply unavailable. This project is funded by the Government of Canada.
The Initiative’s objective is to enable more communities served by these stations to gain access to local news by increasing their capacity to produce and broadcast such news. A grant in the amount of $ 2 million from the Government of Canada will allow the implementation of this initiative. The selected projects will roll-out early 2020 and will continue until March 31, 2021.
Promoting local news
The Local Journalism Initiative will not only allow selected communities to recognize themselves in their local media but will also make the production of local journalism available to all media in the country.
“This initiative includes a distribution system sharing news produced by funded radio stations with media across the country. It’s important to ensure we are reporting on, and making available to the public, the realities happening in different parts of the country, ” explains Emmanuel Sayer, Programs Manager of the CRFC.
Selected radio stations could receive up to $ 50,000 to cover the salary of a journalist or a freelance journalist.
The CRFC will work in collaboration with the Alliance des radios communautaires du Canada, l’Association des radiodiffuseurs communautaires du Québec and the National Campus and Community Radio Association to ensure the success of the Local Journalism Initiative and the broadcasting of news produced by grant recipients.
“In an era of globalization, it is crucial to ensure that more Canadian communities are able to see each other and be visible in the media” says Brenda Grunau, president of the CRFC. “We thank the Government of Canada for this initial investment and will continue to look for resources to grow local news production across the country.”
-30-
For more information, contact:
Emmanuel Sayer
Programs Manager
Community Radio Fund of Canada
Tel.: (613) 321-3513
prog@crfc-fcrc.ca