Online & Digital Media News – Hakai Magazine to end publication at year’s end

Hakai Magazine has announced that publication of the B.C.-based online coastal science journal will end in December after almost a decade of award-winning journalism. While losing funding support from the Tula Foundation, its archive will continue to be maintained online. “No doubt, we are sad,” wrote Founding Editor Jude Isabella, in a statement. “But we have adjusted to the news and we’re committed to finding a new outlet where we can continue to publish stories with our signature keen insight into all things coastal and oceanic. We’re actively looking for new funding sources—if you have ideas, please get in touch, because we’re open to suggestions.” 

T.O. Webfest has announced that 38 Canadian short form series and podcasts, and 34 international series and podcasts are nominated for awards at this year’s festival. Four Canadian series are each nominated in 11 categories spanning genre, craft and primary awards, including Space Janitors (Season 4) – produced by Davin Lengyel, Brendan Halloran & Mark De Angelis; Get Up, Aisha – produced by Jonas Diamond, Marushka Jessica Almeida, Nisha Khan & Rabiya Mansoor; Les météorites – produced by Mylène Augustinl and Near or Far – produced by Caitlin Brown & Michael Bawcutt. This year’s festival, Sept. 17-18, at the Novotel Toronto, includes a two-day conference with international guests participating on various panels on taking short form content to longer forms, distribution strategies, monetization, streaming platforms and adapting original content to new formats. 

Bob Kronbauer, the former publisher and editor-in-chief of Vancouver Is Awesome (VIA), has launched a new weekly newsletter. After founding VIA 16 years ago, Kronbauer announced he was leaving the publication six months ago to become an independent content creator, leaving VIA under the management of Glacier Media Group, which he sold to in 2017. Sharing B.C.-focused content, Kronbauer says the newsletter will fill a void for longer-form content. “The stories I’ve been able to uncover and tell over the past few months have brought me so much joy, and the only thing I’ve found to be missing was an outlet where I can write things to you, in addition to holding my phone in front of my face and telling you stories in video format,” wrote Kronbauer. “In it I’ll bring you along on more adventures, I’ll tell you things I might not have been able to cram into my quick-bite video content, and I’ll share new products as I release them.”