You often hear that no one is doing the news in Guelph. That’s not exactly true.
There are a few media outlets in the Royal City, but only one is very intently focused on the *politics* of Guelph; the people making the decisions, the decisions they’re making, and why those decisions are being made.
The idea behind Guelph Politico is to offer a type of news coverage in Guelph that you don’t get from other sources, and to try and demystify the processes and accessibility of municipal politics. This is done three ways:
1) The weekly podcast. Guelph Politico, and also Open Sources Guelph, offers the only media channel in Guelph for long-form interviews with newsmakers, decision makers, and people of interest in the city.
2) Live coverage of council. Guelph Politico is dedicated to “blow-by-blow” coverage of council meetings. The idea is to give people real time information about how decisions are being made at city council, and to keep people up-to-date about the latest developments.
3) Research and Insight. Guelph Politico publishes agenda breakdowns for every council meeting, publishes a twice-monthly dine safe guide, a monthly calendar, and does explainers about city procedure in the forms of articles, videos, and podcasts.
Over the years, Guelph Politico has established itself as a fundamental source for political news and coverage of city council in Guelph.
The site has also broken several stories including the Guelph Transit route realignment, the Church of Scientology moving into 40 Baker Street, and, to an extent, the Robocall Scandal of the 2011 Federal Election.
Guelph Politico‘s reporting has also been featured in Press Progress and in QP Briefing.
A growing media outlet, Guelph Politico is always looking for ways to expand, cover more stories, and do more coverage of stories in ways you can’t get anywhere else. Doing this will require the support of readers through crowd-funding efforts, and there are number of ways that you can be of assistance in that regard.
Since our readers are also investors, Guelph Politico is interested in hearing back from you in terms of where it can be improved, what stories you want to see covered, or just general transparency questions about how the news is reported.
There is news in Guelph, it is doing its best to serve you, but the days of the daily newspaper sponsored by page after page of pricey ads that pay for a large staff of reporters are gone.
New models are being created, new approaches are being tested, but what’s clear is that media needs the help of its readers to survive and grow. Guelph Politico invites you to be part of a unique, upstart media source in Guelph, and to enjoy an exciting new voice in the local media landscape.
Or don’t. (But seriously, give it a try.)
-Adam A. Donaldson
AKA: Guelph Politico
Guelph Politico 