By William J. Martino - April 27, 2010 - Today, after months of deliberation, the Delta Free Press has decided to alter the way news is reported in Delta. Business will no longer have a dedicated section. In its place we are very excited to announce that we are starting a new section titled 'Environment'. (Look for the heading in the top navigation bar)In the past, environmental stories were categorized under news, politics, opinion, travel, sports, entertainment, and business but after tracking the page views of the online newspaper we have determined that the majority of our readership spends most of their time reading articles with environmental themes.
The Delta Free Press is proud to say we will be the first local media outlet to give the environment a dedicated section next to ‘Local News’, ‘Politics’, ‘Entertainment’, and ‘Sports’ while downgrading the ‘Business’ section. Elvis Glazier, Editor in Chief of the Delta Free Press issued this statement:
There are many environmental issues facing the people of Delta these days. You have the South Fraser Perimeter Road mega project destroying farmland and threatening the well being of the environmentally sensitive Burns Bog in North Delta. Then in the south, in Tsawwassen, you have the Spetifore farmlands under pressure by Sean Hodgins’ Century Group to develop over 1900 homes on agricultural land on the Great Pacific Flyway.
Nowadays, it seems no matter where you look in Delta there’s a controversy and for some reason at the middle of every controversy the environment is being attacked. It wasn’t hard for me to decide to relegate business and commerce articles to other sections. There are countless media outlets for businesses to have their messages heard. As a matter of fact I think for the most part the people of Delta are over saturated with business news. What has been lacking in the local media is an outlet that doesn’t mind taking sides when it comes to the environment. I truly hope that by giving the environment (and environmentalists) a prominent spot on the front the exposure will contribute in a some kind of meaningful way.
As for business? Well, the environment is everyone’s business.
The new heading takes effect on the morning of April 27, 2010. Past articles will be updated with the new category to make it easier to search the archives. Just click on 'Environment' and you will be directed to all the articles on this important subject.
Congratulations on your new Environment section. One has to admire anyone who is brave enough to cover issues that are controversial in one's own community.
ReplyDeleteI wish you luck in navigating the waters of online readership and moderating your new site with positive environmental and community oriented results.
Nic Slater
This is a brilliant cocept that could well spread to other outlets across the land. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDelete-G.Kelly (formerly of BCTV news)