The Tyee Is Proud to Be a Founding Member of Press Forward

The Tyee is pleased to be a founding member of Press Forward, a brand new association for independent news media in the public interest.

Just the affirmation that ‘independent news media’ is a recognized sector is exciting to us. The Tyee isn’t exactly new. We’ve been publishing continuously since the fall of 2003 — before Facebook existed — and we’ve received nearly 125 million page views since then. But for the longest time we were a bit of an oddity because of our lack of connection to the big media chains and their ad-driven bottom lines. It felt like we swam nearly alone, with just a few other counterparts across this vast country of ours.

By necessity, since we started, we’ve been experimenting with different models. Instead of chasing ad dollars and putting up an exclusive paywall, we’ve placed our chips on growing our Tyee Builders program that allows us to pay our journalists while keeping our articles open and available for everyone to read. That happens to be the approach of the Guardian, which we are glad to see is making it work while doing the kind of stellar journalism we seek to emulate. Here in Canada, when over a decade ago we committed to the proposition that readers would pitch in to fund journalism even though they could get it for free without a paywall, our gambit was met with raised eyebrows.

But then just a few years ago, we looked around and didn’t feel at all alone. New sites with innovative business models and a focus on in-depth public service journalism were popping up and making a go of it. The Tyee’s founding editor did a head count just in B.C. and wrote a “good news story” about how this province was turning out to be a hotbed for independent news media innovation — an emerging, distinct sector employing a new wave of journalists. Several of the outlets he cited are now Press Forward co-founding members.

Press Forward was incubated at a gathering hosted by Journalists for Human Rights in June 2019. There, the 45 individuals and organizations noted a desire to come together more formally to support the development of the emerging independent media sector. Today the fellow founding members include the Narwhal, the Sprawl, West End Phoenix, the Discourse, La Converse, Canada’s National Observer, the Coast and Village Media. As the announcement press release puts it: “Press Forward is dedicated to ensuring people in Canada have access to strong, independent and community-focused journalism. Its mission is to boost innovation, inclusivity and diversity in media across the country.”

What all members have in common is we are each independently charting new paths to serve our audiences in a time where the old ways of doing things are not working anymore. And now, together we are likely to share our responses to common challenges, seek collaborative solutions and speak with a unified voice about what this sector will need to flourish. Such work is especially needed at a time when major newspapers have been struggling and laying off staff. For this next generation of digital-first independents to help make up the difference, we will need to speak of our experiences and aspirations to media policy-makers in Canada.

Right now, compared to many European countries and the U.S., Canada is behind in supporting innovative new journalism models. If you are interested in some of the fresh ideas we at The Tyee would like to see taken seriously in the halls of power, here is a list we published three years ago. These are not the official views of Press Forward, but they are the stuff of lively discussion we anticipate with our co-members.

There’s one more thing the diverse members of Press Forward seem to share — a belief that in an age of unlimited content, people are ready for more careful, contextual, in-depth coverage that is incentivized to provide real value to readers. We are not about creating platforms designed primarily to attract eyeballs to advertisements. Press Forward is anything but a clickbait club.

These are early days for Press Forward, as the founding members iron out more clearly the association’s mission and methods. For now, The Tyee feels fortunate to be part of the adventure and pleased to be marking a key moment in the growth of the independent public interest journalism sector.