September 12, 2025 – OTTAWA, ON
News Media Canada and the Community Media Coalition, represented by the Community Radio Fund of Canada, are excited to continue to support local news in Canada. The two organizations yesterday welcomed their confirmation by the Minister of Canadian Heritage to serve as Initial Recipients for the 2025-2027 Local Journalism Initiative.
News Media Canada and the Community Media Coalition are currently working together with Canadian Heritage to finalize the application process and materials. The 2025-2027 Initiative will see a realignment of mandates from the previous iteration of the program. This will streamline processes, reduce administrative costs, expedite reporting and ensure transparency in the program.
As Initial Recipients, the two organizations will be responsible for providing funds to specific segments of the news media industry as follows:
The Community Media Coalition, represented by the Community Radio Fund of Canada:
- Ethnic media: newspapers, online news services, community radio stations and community television stations
- English-language community radio stations outside of Québec
- English-language community television stations
- French-language community television stations outside of Quebec
- Indigenous community radio stations and community television stations
News Media Canada:
- English-language newspapers and online news services outside of Quebec
- French-language newspapers and online news services in Quebec
- Indigenous newspapers and online news services
A third organization, the Consortium of Official Language Minority Community Media, will serve official language minority news media across Canada, as well as French-language community radio and community television stations in Quebec.
The 2025-2027 version of the program also introduces the Changing Narratives Fund stream of the LJI. This component will be overseen by the Community Media Coalition and will provide support to the written press, community radio and television stations and online news services in hiring and training diverse journalists to increase their participation in the media sector at all career stages.
Application forms and guidelines will be posted on the Initial Recipients’ websites shortly. For the Initial Recipients’ weblinks and contact information, as well as more information about the Local Journalism Initiative and Changing Narratives Fund, click here.
About the Local Journalism Initiative
The Local Journalism Initiative was launched by the Government of Canada in 2019 to support the creation of original civic journalism that covers the diverse needs of underserved communities across Canada. To protect the independence of the press, the Government selects not-for-profit organizations representing different segments of the news industry to administer the Initiative.
For more information, please contact:
The Community Media Coalition represented by the Community Radio Fund of Canada:
Media inquiries: alex@crfc-fcrc.ca
Program inquiries: lji-ijl@crfc-fcrc.ca
News Media Canada:
Media inquiries: media@newsmediacanada.ca
Program inquiries: lji@newsmediacanada.ca