ST. ANDREWS, NEW BRUNSWICK - Two milestones for Telile Community Television's participation in the Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) gave two of the program's Maritime participants a chance to reflect on the shifting media landscape as well as provincial politics in their own backyards. 

Telile's Adam Cooke, who launched TELILE 24/7 upon his arrival in the program four years ago, used this anniversary - and the arrival of the series' 150th episode - as an opportunity to welcome Vicki Hogarth, his LJI counterpart from CHCO-TV in St. Andrews, New Brunswick.

Hogarth has joined Cooke for an hour-long discussion every year at this time to mark TELILE 24/7's yearly anniversaries, and Cooke pointed out that she is developing a following in the Strait of Canso. He noted that three different viewers have approached him to state: "We really like your show, but we also really like it when the woman from New Brunswick comes on."

"I dream of being 'the woman from New Brunswick' in people's minds, so thank you," a smiling Hogarth replied, adding that she and her CHCO-TV colleagues have considered Telile as "a sister station" throughout the previous four years of the LJI program. 

The Telile milestones come as the LJI celebrates its own major victory - a three-year renewal of federal funding for the program, announced earlier this month by Heritage Minister Pascal St-Onge. This came only weeks after Hogarth, CHCO-TV station manager Patrick Watt and LJI chair Cathy Edwards appeared before the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to lobby for the LJI's renewal while airing their concerns about the federal Online News Act and its impact on digital news sharing on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. 

While Google has agreed to comply with the Online News Act and pay $100 million annually to the Canadian government, the refusal of fellow tech giant Meta to follow suit has led stations like CHCO-TV to revamp their strategies for sharing news stories on social media. To that end, Hogarth has converted her own Facebook page into the main means of reaching out to viewers in southwestern New Brunswick about their thoughts and concerns. 

In the meantime, Hogarth and Cooke are both monitoring political issues in their respective provinces. New Brunswick's provincial election and Nova Scotia's municipal elections - including those in Telile's main coverage area of Richmond County and Port Hawkesbury - are both slated for this fall. To that end, Cooke and Hogarth are expecting to be busy with candidate interviews, live-streamed debates and various other types of campaign coverage as voters in southwestern New Brunswick and the Strait of Canso prepare to mark their ballots in October.