The COVID-19 Media Impact Map for Canada tracks the impact of COVID-19 on the media industry dating back to March 11, 2020, when the WHO declared a global pandemic. Map markers indicate the type of news organization affected (daily newspapers, community newspapers, magazines, television and radio broadcasters, and online news sites). The colour of these markers shows the type of impact on media outlets. Where there is more than one impact, markers display the colour representing the media impact according to this order: closed/temporarily closed, cancelled some/all print editions, cut back news broadcasts/shows, reduced coverage (other), layoffs/job losses, and pay cuts/reduced hours. A summary of the latest map data is available here.

The Local News Data Hub is committed to i) shoring up local journalism by supplying newsrooms with data-driven stories ii) training student data journalists and iii) providing support for/collaborating with journalists and news outlets on data-based projects. After identifying a dataset relevant to multiple communities, the Data Hub team does the necessary reporting to produce a story template that is then populated with data for individual cities and towns. These local stories are available to all local media via the LNDH website. Many are also shared with the Canadian Press wire service for distribution to CP clients across the country. Read more HERE.

Funding for the Local News Research Project has been provided by the Rossy Foundation, the Ken and Debbie Rubin Public Interest Advocacy Fund, the Canadian Geospatial and Open Data Research Partnership, the Canadian Media Union/CWA Canada, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, a Mitacs Accelerate grant, Unifor, and Toronto Metropolitan University.