Schedule
Friday June 13, 2025
Bagtown Brewery, 45 Main Street, Sackville - 6pm to 8pm
Meet and greet
An opportunity for participants and panellists to gather before the symposium. Light snacks provided, cash bar.
Saturday, June 14, 2025
Ralph Pickard Bell Library, Mount Allison Campus
10am
Keynote address by April Lindgren
of the Local News Research Project.11:15am
PANEL 1: What do communities need from local reporting?
Featuring Jo-Ann Roberts (former CBC journalist and author of Storm the Ballot Box); Paul MacNeill (publisher of PEI's Eastern Graphic and associated Island Press newspapers); Darrell Cole (former reporter for Amherst News / Citizen Record); and Marcel Parker-Gallant (Assistant general manager, Radio Beauséjour)12:05pm to 1:25pm
Lunch break (lunch not provided)
1:30pm
PANEL 2: What are you doing and how are you doing it?
Featuring Vicki Hogarth (News Director, CHCO-TV and St. Croix Courier, St. Andrews, NB); Maureen Googoo (Owner/editor Kukukwes.com); David Gordon Koch (Reporter, New Brunswick Media Co-op and instructor, St. Thomas University); Larry Lynch (Editor/webmaster, Miramichi Online), Theresa Blackburn (Publisher/managing editor, River Valley Sun)2:30pm
PANEL 3: What tools are out there for startups or existing outlets?
Featuring Terra Tailleur (Professor of Digital Journalism and the Business of Journalism, University of King's College J-School); April Lindgren (Local News Research Project); Tim Bousquet (Editor & Publisher, Halifax Examiner), Ariel Freiman ( (rural news strategist))3:30pm
FACILITATED WORKSHOP:
What can we do to facilitate the revival and survival of local news? Hosted by facilitator Annika Chiasson.4:45pm