L’Aurore boréale wins a prize thanks to its website | French-speaking media in a minority environment

The Yukon publication The Northern Lights received the Award of Excellence – Digital Presence. She also won the Excellence Award for digital project of the year. The prize for the newspaper of the year goes to the newspaper The Nova Scotia Courier.

In all, 16 awards were presented at the Francophone Press Excellence Awards Gala, which closed the Réseau.Presse National Congress, which took place in Whitehorse, Yukon, this week.

The main theme of this high mass of local French-speaking media in a minority environment was mainly centered on the destiny of the latter, in an ecosystem shaken up by social networks, the lack of staff and the decline in advertising revenue and private financing. and public.

The past year has been extremely challenging.

It’s certain that when we look at the basic indicators or indicators that allow these media to survive, things are not going well, that’s for sure. So there is a feeling, a certain sense of urgency that always colors our conversations, but we also have a whole bunch of opportunitiesexplained Nicolas Jacques, co-president of Réseau Presse and general director of Nova Scotia Mail.

The new generation: a well of innovation

As the new generation is no longer on the horizon, but very present and within reach, publications are trying to adapt by developing proximity strategies so that young people notice their existence. Today, we do a lot of things, we make video, we are all present on the Internet, we have podcasts.

During his interview on the show West Lighthousein British Columbia, he also explained that to raise awareness among young people of local and French-speaking information in his region, journalism training is given to high school students.

What is important, of course, is to promote our media in our communities, to try to reestablish a link with young people who have somewhat lost this connection.

The content of these is then published in The Nova Scotia Courier. It’s a way of creating an emotional relationship.

Solidarity essential to survival

Teams from French-language newspapers in minority settings also work together to find new ways to attract a younger audience.

Marcia Enman, executive director of The Acadian Voicebroadcast on Prince Edward Island, has attended national conferences of the French-speaking press in minority communities since the 1980s.

I learn things from other newspapers and then I can bring that back into the operations of The Acadian Voiceso for me I learn, I learn, I learnshe said, adding that this sharing of ideas is not one-way.

I’ll take ideas from, let’s say, the Journal de la Liberté, the Journal l’Aurore boréal, but we exchange ideas. [Alors]I find it important that we continue to meet.

Solidarity has notably enabled The Northern Lights to adapt the concept of a magazine developed by Le Gaboteur de Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador.

This solidarity is not limited to the exchange of good tricks and know-how.

Open in full screen mode

Maryne Dumaine, general director of L’Aurore boréale, explains that the 21 French-speaking newspapers, members of Réseau.Presse, have also signed a joint declaration which will be the basis of future lobbying actions with the federal government.

We really want to agree to have a strong lobbying message on the situation of newspapers, the things we need at the political level, especially since we have elections coming up, so we need to solidify our message .

With information from Sarah Xenos, Claudianne Samson and the Phare Ouest show