It seemed to pass by without much commentary earlier this year, but January 29 marked the tenth anniversary of the last edition of the Guelph Mercury. Recently, with the closure of 570 News in Kitchener, a discussion about the shrinking state of local news is timely again, and as we head into municipal election season, shouldn’t it be more top of mind as we get ready to elect a new mayor and council?

Two weeks ago, Rogers Sports & Media announced that they were cutting 230 jobs and closing six radio stations across Canada, including 570 News in Kitchener. It’s kind of a big hit to the Waterloo Region eco-system because The Mike Farwell Show was a fairly popular platform to discuss local issues, and 570 was the radio broadcast home for the Kitchener Rangers. An important community hub was zapped just like *that* on a random Tuesday!

And on top of that, these cuts come at the worst possible time as every Ontario municipality enters election season this fall. So in the wake of these recent cuts, and in anticipation of the labour intensive work coming this fall, we tap into the experience and expertise of the Ink-Stained Wretches, a grassroots advocacy group dedicated to building a culture of appreciation for quality journalism in aid of democracy. How can we know who we’re voting for without a robust local media eco-system?

Mirko Petricevic. the chief “Ink-stigator” of Ink-Stained Wretches, joins us today on this edition of the pod as we talk about why the closure of 570 News came as such a big blow, and why it continues to be so hard to make the erosion of local news a community issue. He will also talk about walking the fine line between mutual interest and accountability, why local media still has an advantage in securing people’s trust, and why we need a “buy local” campaign for our community news outlets.

So let’s talk again about the state of local news on this week’s Guelph Politicast!

You can learn more about Ink-Stained Wretches at their website, or you can follow them on Facebook and Blue Sky. For some more conversation about the state of local media, especially in Waterloo Region, you can check out a panel discussion that was hosted at the Ink-Stained Wretches Journalism Film Festival, which took place earlier this spring, at Midtown Radio here.

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