Energeticcity.ca’s enhanced and expanded election coverage informs readers 28,000 times

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Energeticcity.ca helped readers make an informed choice in the election last month more than 28,000 times, thanks to a grant supporting our coverage.

In early April, our newsroom was awarded funding by the Public Policy Forum, the Rideau Hall Foundation and the Michener Awards Foundation to expand and upgrade our federal election coverage. 

Using the award, civic reporter and assistant news director Caitlin Coombes was able to travel around the Prince George, Peace River and Northern Rockies riding to speak with local people and cover all-candidate forum events. 

She visited Fort Nelson, where she heard the residents feel “painted out” of the picture, and Prince George, where she interviewed local business owners.

Adam Reaburn, owner of Energeticcity.ca’s parent company Moose Media, said: “As one of the few remaining local media outlets in Northeast B.C., this funding allowed us to attend every candidate forum across our expansive riding, engage directly with residents from Fort Nelson to Prince George, and bring their voices to the forefront of the conversation.

“It was an invaluable investment in community journalism that ensured our readers had the information they needed to make informed choices.” 

Energeticcity.ca created an online tool for readers, where they could access interviews with all the local candidates, read about the parties’ platforms and more. 

Between March 23rd and April 30th, our election news articles were viewed at least 28,000 times, our social media clips and videos were watched at least 20,500 times, and over 4,000 special editions of our Peace Politics email newsletter were sent out.

The online Election Guide was viewed thousands of times alone, and nearly 4,500 people tuned in to our live coverage of the election results as they were revealed on April 28th. 

As the only local, independent newsroom in our area – which is in a geographically large election riding – Energeticcity.ca would usually not have the resources available to cover the campaign trails this comprehensively. For example, Energeticcity.ca’s coverage in the run-up to the provincial election garnered around 15,500 views. 

This important piece of work, which helped to give the distinct communities in our area a voice, was made possible by the grant Energeticcity.ca received.