Hi-Sci-Fi

This week, we chat with Steve Anderson of SaveOurNetcoalition and he gives us the goods on Fresh Media Fresh Media, an event dedicated to new and changing state of digital art and media. We also discuss the recent CRTC decision on Net Neutrality in Canada.

Currently, media in Canada is experiencing a major crisis, as CanWest, one of the few and overwhelmingly penetrative media conglomerates has declared bancruptcy due to seemingly insurmountable debts.

Prior to kicking the bucket, so to speak, CanWest did its best to cut down on “corners” by closing local television stations, cutting newsrooms and engaging in mass layoffs. One of the requests forwarded to the CRTC was to eliminate costs by adjoining the newprint and broadcasting news rooms, working with only a fraction of journalists who would potentially occupy a small rooom in a basement somewhere in Toronto.

While the CanWest proposal never saw the light of day, it is worthwhile noting that similar redundancies have been committed by variety of news agencies across Canada. As a result, we are currently experiencing a disappearance of local news coverage.

However, there are select few, such as the chosen panel participants at Fresh Media, who see an opportunity. In this time of economic crisis, online-only publications such as the Tyee or Rabble, are gaining ground by producing the local content relevant to readers.

That said, these select few are neither freelancers nor new graduates with irrelevant, unnamed blogs. They are professionals who not only have full time, financially supportive jobs, but are working in the for-profit media.

According to Statistics Canada, independent enterpreneurs are doing really well, if they happen to be in the upper 10th percentile. The rest though, are having tougher times selling their wares, be it twitter or pen.