Reimagining Journalism: The Montreal Edition

Gabrielle Brassard-Lecours has taken on many roles in the journalism industry. She's been a spokesperson for independent journalists, a journalism professor and a news startup founder twice over. She previously helped co-found Ricochet Media in 2014 and in 2021, she helped launch Pivot, a news co-operative based in Montreal. In this interview, we talk about her career journey, some of the lessons she's learned from starting two news outlets, and the challenges of funding and sustaining news organizations in Canada. To learn more about Pivot, visit: https://pivot.quebec/

To hear more from the 2024 engaged journalism conference at Concordia, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FUK-CsCNCk

Hosted and produced by Jessica Botelho-Urbanski. Music by Pumpupthemind via Pixabay.

Chris Curtis is the founder of The Rover (https://therover.ca/). A former Montreal Gazette journalist, he ventured out on his own in 2020 and has built a news startup focused on investigations and long-form journalism. In this interview, Chris talks about his reporting process and his mental-health journey. To read his work on illegal dumping in Kanesatake, visit: https://therover.ca/?s=kanesatake

If you or anyone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, you can call or text 9-8-8 in Canada, anytime.

Hosted and produced by Jessica Botelho-Urbanski. Music by Pumpupthemind via Pixabay.

Lela Savić founded La Converse in 2020. She had previously worked as a journalist for mainstream media like Radio-Canada, La Presse and Metro News. And her frustration with legacy news outlets helped inspire her career move. Now, La Converse (https://www.laconverse.com/) is focused on empowering BIPOC communities and training youth to help them tell their own stories. You can hear some of their work in Pas Tout Montreal, a podcast created by youth through L’École Converse. https://www.laconverse.com/balados-series/pas-tout-montreal

Hosted and produced by Jessica Botelho-Urbanski. Music by Pumpupthemind via Pixabay.

Despite all the headline-grabbing news about Canadian journalism’s problems, there isn’t a lot of coverage about what’s new or improving. Let's change that.

In this podcast series, we’ll focus on Quebec’s news landscape and talk to three journalists who have started their own news outlets here in Montreal. We'll find out why they’re going this route, instead of working in legacy media, and how they’re approaching journalism differently.

In this trailer, you'll also hear from Dr. Elyse Amend, a journalism professor at Concordia University, who discusses some of the differences between digital startups and their more old-school counterparts.

Hosted and produced by Jessica Botelho-Urbanski. Music by Pumpupthemind via Pixabay.