(09-23-2025, 06:56 AM)nms Wrote: There are at least ten different media outlets that serve Waterloo Region in a local capacity. The local market for subscription print media is largely spent on publications based outside of Waterloo Region (Globe and Mail & Toronto Star) or even out of the country (New York Times, and pretty much every other news outlet that operates on a subscription model). That being said, some of those local outlets are mere shells of what they used to be and owned or controlled by companies outside of the Region (looking at you CTV née CKCO, or The Record)
If you think that it's easy enough to start another news outlet in this market, go for it. The Record is the final print survivor of a handful of publications that started over a century ago when each community had its own newspaper, financed by local businesses and subscribers who paid for either subscriptions or advertising.
I know there are existing media platforms besides The Record. I guess I should have elaborated but I mean "new media" which doesn't fit into the mould of legacy media. Most news/journalism/cultural consumers - especially those 30 and under - get their news by watching videos whether they're long form documentaries, short 10-20 minute videos or just short formats you find on YouTube Shorts or TikTok. Heck they even read articles too, provided they're written by people that understand or relate to them. That's something that's missing here at a local level, although paradoxically it's also something that is hard to do at the local level, especially in a region that is still slightly less than a million people. But...it could potentially work here due to the fact we have so many young people in this region studying at the two universities or the college.
News media is a lot different these days and while there is still a place for legacy media like NYT or The Guardian, lots of people these days like video or short form content. It's hard to get the younger generation to give a shit about stuff like local development/economics/politics/culture etc because it's pretty damn boring, but at the same time youth are pretty aware and conscious of the world around them. Now obviously we won't get a local VICE News or Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan, but that's the type of content format that would help local issues. Give a couple University of Waterloo or Conestoga College kids a camera, microphone and social media boost and they'd probably be able to tell a better story about local development issues, homelessness, cost of living etc than anything The Record has done recently.
Even a website that targets a younger demographic can work. While everyone loves to shit on blogTO or Daily Hive (Vancity Buzz) they have actually managed to do a fair job at hitting certain demographics other media can't seem to capture. They're particularly unique because they're owned by ZoomerMedia, which despite the name used to cater more to boomers. They're absolutely legacy media and even listed on the TSX so very profit rather than information oriented, but they've managed to creep into the digital media sphere and successfully draw in younger audiences as well as audiences of people who may never willingly read TorStar or Vancouver Sun, but who still want to hear about local issues. With the right people at the helm, I feel like it'd be possible to pull that off locally in Waterloo Region. A "blogWR" or "blogKWC", complete with online articles people would want to read as well as video content. Or indeed, just a guy with a camera, microphone and YouTube channel.