CJF J-Talk: New Media, New Models

Who says it’s all dire news for the media industry? Consider these recent arrivals. The West End Phoenix is a community news monthly just launched in Toronto—ad-free and in print. The Conversation Canada is an edition of the Australian website that turns academic research into accessible articles. Discourse Media is an independent, Vancouver-based website finding success in its collaborative approach to journalism. Then there’s The Athletic, a subscription sports website expanding across major North American cities. In an environment where media outlets are struggling, what does it take to launch something new? And what does it take to sustain it?

Join our speakers: David Bidini, founder and publisher of The West End Phoenix; Saleem Khan, emergent platforms, science and technology editor with The Conversation Canada; Erin Millar, editor-in-chief and CEO of Discourse Media; and James Mirtle, editor-in-chief of The Athletic in Canada. Catherine Wallace, the former executive producer of the Montreal Gazette’s iPad 6 pm edition who explored alternative sources of civic news as the 2016-2017 Atkinson Fellow in Public Policy, moderates.