Ep 258

Guest: Rob Germain

Headline: Saving Local News

Ten years ago, the team at CHEK News in Victoria were on the eve of losing their jobs and Vancouver Island was on the cusp of losing its local news station – a station that, when it opened on December 1, 1953, was the first private television station in BC and it had been on the air for more than 50 years.

The station was slated to be the first station to in Canada to go dark. If not for the all-out efforts of the women and men who worked for the station, a vital local news source would have been lost. A station that played a key role in holding politicians accountable, of informing the residents of Vancouver Island about their communities – a station that played a role in the social and economic well-being of Victoria and Vancouver Island – was within hours of vanishing.

We invited Rob Germain of CHEK News to join us for a Conversation That Matters about the all-out effort by the team at the station to keep it on the air.

Conversations That Matter is a partner program for the Center for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. The production of this program is made possible thanks to the support of the following and viewers like you.

Click here to learn more about Rob and his career https://vimeo.com/356780050

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