News Sources for Cobourg

With the closing of Cobourg’s only daily newspaper in November of 2017, many have struggled to find out what’s happening.  A group led by Journalists John Miller and Rob Washburn started Northumberland Hub to try to provide a way of steering people to alternative news sources but that closed in February, 2019.  At the risk of leaving out useful sources and expressing an opinion, I thought it’s time to recap how to get news updates if you live in Cobourg.  If you are reading this, you know that Cobourg News blog is part of that but it does not by itself completely fill the gap. The short answer is that instead of relying on a single newspaper for everything, you… Read complete articleNews Sources for Cobourg

Can the Town of Cobourg Communicate better?

Currently the Town communicates to citizens using the remaining newspaper, the Town website, social media (including You-Tube) and email – and communications manager Ashley Purdy wants to know how it can be done better.  A new survey with 10 questions is now available until Friday, March 29, 2019 (see link below).  Questions start by asking how you currently get news and go on to ask for suggestions on what can be done to do better.  The focus is on what the Town does: Planning, Town managed events and Venture 13 but there is no suggestion that the Town should provide information on what other organizations are doing even though the Town promotes Tourism and visitors are interested in events managed… Read complete articleCan the Town of Cobourg Communicate better?

Northumberland Hub to shut down

On 27 November 2017, Northumberland Today shut down and left a big gap in local News coverage in Cobourg and Northumberland.  Although Northumberland News continued, it only publishes once a week so the rest of the week was left without any coverage.  So John Miller started a group to see what could be done.  The first step was a Town Hall meeting on 20 March 2018 which 160 people attended.  Since John was away, Rob Washburn stepped in to lead discussion.  Although it was apparent that most people wanted a restoration of a daily printed newspaper, it  was apparent that the only option was some form of online service.  Fifteen sites were identified as providing local news so the concept… Read complete articleNorthumberland Hub to shut down

Review of 2018 News

It’s getting to the time of year to have high hopes for the New Year but 2018 was eventful for the world and for Cobourg.  It’s easy to forget what happened during the year – we had two elections so we now have a new Provincial Government and a new council; we had the major cultural event “Armistice 18”; the east pier was shut down; rezoning for a new school in New Amherst was approved despite protests;  people made clear that they were not happy with the closure of the daily local newspaper; and there were many more events that made news. I have listed 23 highlights with a link to a post about it. Some events had several posts… Read complete articleReview of 2018 News

New Web site Helps Fill News Gap

On March 20, a Town Hall meeting was held to get input on what should be done to meet the needs of people in Northumberland for Local News. (See links below for more on this meeting).  Led by John Miller with significant help from Rob Washburn, a small committee was formed to do something.  It adopted the name Local News Northumberland and decided that an online comprehensive daily guide to local news was needed.  At Cobourg Council’s Committee of the Whole meeting tonight, Rob explained how a “Hub” or “signpost” web site is being provided to point to where News stories can be found.  Fifteen news sources have been identified and each day the headlines and lead photo from new… Read complete articleNew Web site Helps Fill News Gap

MoneySense Ranks Cobourg

Recently, MoneySense Magazine announced their 2018 ranks for cities which are good places to live and retire –  and Cobourg’s ranks are slipping.  The table below shows the ranks for 2018 with some of the numbers from 2015 and 2017 for comparison. To calculate ranks, MoneySense looks at “Wealth and economy, affordability, population growth, taxes, commute, crime, weather, access to health care, amenities and culture.”  These are weighted so that money and health get high ratings but culture and amenities are low.  I would weight culture higher and maybe adjust some of the others but these are the ranks that are often quoted.  You have to wonder what such rankings mean – everyone’s idea of a perfect town is different… Read complete articleMoneySense Ranks Cobourg

Tourism Marketing Launched for 2018

At an event at the Cobourg Community Centre on Thursday, several Tourism marketing initiatives were presented.  Information intended to attract Tourists to Cobourg will be provided to locations across Ontario and the marketing material will have a new look with the focus on Experiences.  The Town’s Tourism web site (although still on line) will be superceded by a new one: ExperienceCobourg.ca – the idea is to not overdo the details and encourage visitors to get more detail at the web site.  At the program launch, a collection of Souvenirs produced by Hoselton Studios was unveiled.  These will be sold at Tourism centres in Cobourg; that is, at 1) the Tourism office in the Market Building behind Victoria Hall and 2)… Read complete articleTourism Marketing Launched for 2018

Update on Local Newspapers

On March 20th, a Town hall meeting was held at Victoria Hall on the subject of “what to do about the loss of a daily newspaper?”  The Town was supportive by waiving the Hall rental so organizer Rob Washburn reported back on Monday on what came out of it.  Rob said that there were about 150 attendees and that it “was an unqualified success”.  People were passionate about the subject and showed that they were interested in a wide range of topics: not just politics but also community organizations, cultural groups, and events. Since then news providers have expanded: Northumberland News has expanded, 89.7 FM is producing more news, Today’s Northumberland was recently created, the Burd report has started up… Read complete articleUpdate on Local Newspapers

Good Turnout at Town Hall on Local News

About 160 people were at the meeting in Victoria Hall tonight led by Rob Washburn.  When Rob introduced it he said that it was more a conversation than a meeting – no decisions were made but a lot of ideas were presented.  At the meeting I saw many political figures: Lou Rinaldi, John Henderson, Brian Darling, Aaron Burchat, David Piccini and Adam Bureau. During the meeting many of the local journalists and media representatives were there and spoke up – too many to name individually.  These included Northumberland News, SNAP, CHEX, My Broadcasting, FM89.7 as well as Social media: Now Network, Cobourg Media and Cobourg Internet.  Many in the audience spoke of many years of experience in newspapers or radio… Read complete articleGood Turnout at Town Hall on Local News

Reminder – Town Hall meeting on Local News

Hopefully most people in Cobourg know by now that a group has been formed to see if there is anything that can be done to replace the gap left by the shutdown of Northumberland Today.  Currently led by Professor of e-journalism Rob Washburn, a Public Town Hall meeting has been organized for Tuesday March 20th at 7:00pm in Cobourg’s Victoria Hall.  Rob asked Cobourg Council for support in the cost of that and Council approved his request on February 20.  Since this initiative started, there has been some activity online (see links below) but no printed replacement newspaper.  But is there demand for a daily printed paper?  What do people really want?  What are they prepared to pay for?  Come… Read complete articleReminder – Town Hall meeting on Local News