My name is Shauna Rae and I live in rural Southwestern Ontario. I'm a former radio journalist and I've been hosting and producing a podcast called Clearing a New Path, since the fall of 2021. The podcast is aimed at building a more united, feminist, anti-racist rural Canada. It's been heard in over 500 Canadian communities, big and small.
I'm worried about the future of Canadian journalism, especially for folks like me, living outside of the city limits in rural Canada. I'm worried about this particular time in our history when online hate group propaganda is increasing and true rural Canadian stories are getting lost and buried.
As more and more Canadian legacy news organizations shutter and/or reduce staff, local news, particularly news outside of urban Canada, is being ignored, leaving the door open for mis-and dis-information.
I want to change that. I'm building something new, a new kind of journalism and Canadian youth, from traditionally under served groups, will collaboratively create it.
I'm also building a network of small, locally-based digital and audio journalists, independent news entrepreneurs to bring you rural Canadian news. The news you're not currently getting. All of us want to protect the integrity of rural stories.
Rural stories come from diverse voices. Those include Black voices, Indigenous voices, queer voices, trans voices and women's voices.
As I collaborate in building this new journalism ecosystem, it will create journalism opportunities for young folks, our future as it were, to help make journalism a revered and well-paid career in Canada.
Why $150,000? The last thing I want to do is build something that doesn't pay journalists a fair wage. This money is to hire journalists and to pay them well. And pay the people well that provide the website, audio production and technology to build something sustainable.
Will you help me create this collaborative ecosystem? Will you join us on this journey and help hold us accountable?
I'd appreciate your support in the form of donations, subscribing to our newsletters and sharing this with your friends, colleagues and social networks.
I'm truly grateful.
