ST. ANDREW'S, NEW BRUNSWICK - There might not seem to be much in common between the southern Cape Breton region of Isle Madame and a New Brunswick community that counts Grand Manan Island and Campobello Island among its points of interest.
But those involved with the Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) at Telile Community Television in Arichat, N.S. and CHCO-TV in St. Andrews, N.B. see it differently - and they have been working cooperatively since early 2021 to show their viewers the ties that bind these two seemingly-disparate Maritime regions together.
Well before the LJI initiative, as administered by the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS), arrived at CHCO-TV and Telile, the two stations had set a high standard for community broadcasting by sharing, among other things, entire gavel-to-gavel coverage of municipal council meetings and public debates for municipal, provincial and federal election candidates. As well, their LJI journalists - Vicki Hogarth and Adam Cooke, respectively - had several years of showcasing the community's leaders, residents, and artists for their audiences in Charlotte County, N.B. and Richmond County, N.S.
In early 2021, with the one-year anniversary of his first LJI venture TELILE 24/7 looming, Cooke hit upon an idea for an anniversary party with a single guest: Hogarth. The pair spent the entire hour discussing their respective approaches to local broadcast journalism, a challenge at the best of times and a medium with a whole new set of hurdles during the heights of the COVID-19 pandemic and its accompanying gathering restrictions. In doing so, they found exponentially more in common than one might expect from two journalists working for different audiences in distinct portions of Atlantic Canada, and gave their respective viewers a significant reminder that there is much more uniting us than dividing us on Canada's East Coast.
Inspired, Cooke invited Hogarth to return for the second and third anniversary editions of TELILE 24/7, with the latter program also featuring an interview with LJI colleague Rrain Prior of U Multicultural Channel in Neepawa, Manitoba. And in the summer of 2023, with so many common threads arising in news stories covered by Cooke and Hogarth in their respective provinces, the July 28 edition of TELILE 24/7 saw a rare mid-year appearance from Hogarth as she and Cooke discussed everything from wildfires to carbon pricing to the activities of their respective premiers and provincial governments.
Some of the parallels were obvious - both provinces endured devastating and historic wildfire activity in early June, with Hogarth actually finding herself and her CHCO-TV colleagues in the thick of the action in Charlotte County. As well, both provinces saw the price of gasoline, diesel and home heating oil rising on July 1 with the imposition of federal carbon pricing, a move opposed equally by New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston and Prince Edward Island Premier Dennis King, all Progressive Conservatives.
And, as LGBTQIA+ leaders in Cape Breton grew increasingly concerned with legislation in several American states that restricts the rights of community members, New Brunswick saw the issue hit home in striking fashion with changes introduced to the Education Department's so-called Policy 713 that would give school administrators to alert parents of a child that was taking on a different gender identity and/or name than those used with their parents at home. The move cost Premier Higgs two members of his cabinet and led eight PC MLAs to vote with the opposition Liberals against the move, leading to a leadership revolt that had Higgs threatening to call a snap election and several PC riding associations in New Brunswick insisting on a leadership review.
In the end, Hogarth and Cooke enjoyed a lively, spirited and informative conversation that reminded themselves - and their viewers - the importance of working together and sharing information within the Maritimes to drive home the point that there is exponentially more uniting us than dividing us.
Add new comment
About LJI
LJI Impact is the section of commediaportal.ca where the journalists and their organizations participating in CACTUS' Local Journalism Initiative can share their greatest successes.
Through the written stories, photos and videos you see in the LJI Impact section, you'll be able to read first hand accounts about how the presence of a community journalist is making a difference in communities across Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative and the Community Media Portal.
The Community Media Portal is a gateway to the audio-visual media created by community media centres across Canada. These include traditional community TV and radio stations, as well as online and new media production centres.
Community media are not-for-profit production hubs owned and operated by the communities they serve, established both to provide local content and reflection for their communities, as well as media training and access for ordinary citizens to the latest tools of media production, whether traditional TV and radio, social and online media, virtual reality, augmented reality or video games.
The Community Media Portal has been funded by the Local Journalism Initiative (the LJI) of the Department of Canadian Heritage, and administered by the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) in association with the Fédération des télévisions communautaires autonomes du Québec (the Fédération). Under the LJI, over 100 journalists have been placed in underserved communities and asked to produce civic content that underpins Canadian democratic life.
