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A new era in local news
News flash: It's time for a change
One of the most interesting developments in the Canadian media market we’ve seen in a while has just launched. Toronto-based OpenFile announced they’re now open for business.
With many newspapers and news stations struggling for relevancy in this always-on world, the news industry has been the fodder of many articles, discussions and rants over the past 18 months. Not surprisingly, traditional media outlets will have lots to say about these kinds of developments. One reporter’s reaction to OpenFile ran in the Globe and Mail over the weekend.
OpenFile is positioned as a collaborative newsroom–social media meets professional journalism – focusing on local news. It’s a newsroom that complements the current reality of news consumption in an increasingly digitally dominated world. The team believes in participatory journalism (quite the term!) and no paywalls. OpenFile gives you a reason to stick around and chat about news that means something to you with people who will seriously listen to you. Not only will you have a say in defining your own news, but you’ll also help collect and share that information.
OpenFile enables you to start a file about a local story you think is important. Professional journalists then begin reporting on your file upon approval from site editors. OpenFile readers can contribute to the conversation by submitting comments, links, photos and video to help tell the stories that affect the hundreds of neighborhoods that make up your city.
As a MaRS client, over the past eight months we’ve have had the pleasure of working with Wilf Dinnik, the Founding Editor and CEO of OpenFile. From our first meeting, Wilf’s knowledge, passion and energy has consistently come through. It’s obvious that he’s been thinking about this new venture for some time, probably while he was on the road reporting internationally for ABC and CNN.
OpenFile meets consumers where they want to consume news. So they’ve launched of a series of accounts on various social media sites. Check them out on Twitter or Facebook. OpenFile is starting with Toronto but will be rapidly expanding to many other cities.
We look forward to working with OpenFile to see how it develops. Their willingness to create something dramatically new instead of sitting back while their industry struggles is impressive. While still in its early days, we just might see another major transformation in the local news industry happening right outside our window.
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Krista Jones @ MaRS
Krista advises entrepreneurs and high growth companies in ICT markets or with IT based offerings specializing in business planning, marketing/product development and operations.
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