Ottawa, November 5, 2019 - The Community Radio Fund of Canada (CRFC) has launched the Local
Journalism Initiative to increase the production of local civic news by community and campus radio
stations and type B Indigenous radio stations serving areas where local news is poor or simply
unavailable. This project is funded by the Government of Canada.

The Initiative’s objective is to enable more communities served by these stations to gain access to local
news by increasing their capacity to produce and broadcast such news. A grant in the amount of $ 2
million from the Government of Canada will allow the implementation of this initiative. The selected
projects will roll-out early 2020 and will continue until March 31, 2021.

Promoting local news
This Local Journalism Initiative will not only allow selected communities to recognize themselves in
their local media but will also make the production of local journalism available to all media in the
country.

"This initiative includes a distribution system sharing news produced by funded radio stations with
media across the country. It’s important to ensure we are reporting on, and making available to the
public, the realities happening in different parts of the country, " explains Emmanuel Sayer, Programs
Manager of the CRFC.

Selected radio stations could receive up to $ 50,000 to cover the salary of a journalist or a freelance
journalist.

The CRFC will work in collaboration with the Alliance des radios communautaires du Canada,
l’Association des radiodiffuseurs communautaires du Québec and the National Campus and
Community Radio Association to ensure the success of the Local Journalism Initiative and the
broadcasting of news produced by grant recipients.

“In an era of globalization, it is crucial to ensure that more Canadian communities are able to see each
other and be visible in the media” says Brenda Grunau, president of the CRFC. "We thank
the Government of Canada for this initial investment and will continue to look for resources to grow
local news production across the country.”

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For more information, contact:
Emmanuel Sayer
Programs Manager
Community Radio Fund of Canada
Tel.: (613) 321-3513
prog@crfc-fcrc.ca