Unveiling The Green Line’s landing page
We just soft launched THEGREENLINE.TO 💚
Happy Halloween, y’all! Anita here. October is one of my favourite times of the year and that’s doubly true in 2021 since The Green Line soft launched this month. 🎃
TheGreenLine.TO is live! We’ll officially launch our full website at that same URL this winter 2022. But until then, you can peruse our brand new landing page, which breaks down what makes The Green Line unique and what you can expect from us in the near future:
After working in journalism for the past 20 years (including 10 years full-time), this publication is very much a culmination of my life’s work to date, informed by my experiences at both legacy media institutions in Canada and youth-oriented, Internet culture-driven digital media outlets in America. In other words, The Green Line combines the rigour of traditional reporting practices with the sensibilities of creator culture.
It’s also the only independent, hyperlocal news outlet dedicated to serving gen Zs and millennials in Toronto. Here’s the list of values that The Green Line team and our community members prioritize, which we explain on our landing page:
Action
Solutions
Community
Trust
Depth
Nuance
Starting in early 2022, The Green Line will report on one systemic problem facing Toronto every month. To encourage Torontonians to take action on these issues, we created our four-part “Action Journey,” which you can see below.
Our landing page also includes links to all five of our social accounts, and showcases video content featuring Green Line contributors and community members.
Want to be the first to know when we officially launch our website? Sign up here for updates. You can also become a founding member of The Green Line by donating to our Patreon.
The Green Line joins Fifth Wave Labs
I’m thrilled to announce that The Green Line was selected to be part of Fifth Wave Labs, a four-month business bootcamp for women-owned and -led businesses. It’s also one component of the Canadian Film Centre’s (CFC) Fifth Wave Initiative, Canada’s first feminist business accelerator. Congrats to my fellow cohort members!
Paid opportunity: Apply to be a Green Line fellow
The Green Line is currently hiring Business Development Innovation Fellows, as well as News Innovation Fellows who are interested in reporting on digital communities, e/sports and sneakers, especially through a Toronto lens. I’m prioritizing applicants who identify as being from underrepresented communities in Toronto, which in this context means people who don’t see themselves reflected in legacy local media.
If you want to learn more, feel free to contact me for more information. Or if you’re interested, please send me your resume, cover letter and links to three clips (multimedia is preferred).
In my community
Thanks to everyone who voted for me in the 2022-23 Online News Association Board of Directors election — I’m excited and grateful to be re-elected for a second term. Congrats to my fellow re-elected and newly elected board members, including Globe and Mail’s Angela Pacienza and Politico’s Elana Zak!
Taking Care is Canada’s first-ever survey of media workers that aims to capture a national snapshot of the state of well-being, work stress and mental health within the country’s journalism industry. The survey launches tomorrow, so be sure to fill it in.
Southern California Public Radio and their partners just announced a new program that wants to make the practice of engaged journalism in local public media newsrooms integral to the nonprofit business model. Ultimately, the program’s goal is to establish a roadmap for other nonprofit news outlets.
I just came across Twitter Communities, which was created to give users a “place to connect, share and get closer to the discussions they care about most.” Communities, which will be a useful resource for reporters, is currently available as a pilot launch to a small group of test participants on iOS and web.
Cool stuff I like
I highly recommend watching my new favourite television show, HBO’s Succession, which is basically the fictionalized version of the Rogers family drama that’s playing out in corporate Canada right now.
Because they’re thematically connected, I also recommend watching White Lotus, another HBO show that satirizes the disconnected rich. But its nuanced approach means the focus is less on which character is worse, and more on who’s kidding themselves the most about who they are.
Check out Zebras Unite, “a founder-led, cooperatively owned movement creating the culture, capital and community for the next economy.” For the uninitiated, “zebras” are regenerative businesses that challenge the prevailing startup narrative of venture capital-backed, winner-takes-all “unicorns.”
How you can support The Other Wave
My professional mission has always been to support the global movement towards more thoughtful, impactful news coverage, and all the ways that manifests. If The Other Wave gets you to think even a little differently about journalism, especially in Canada, then I will have accomplished what I set out to do. And if TOW gets you to take action and support Canadian media outlets — especially ones that strive to be innovative and inclusive — I will have exceeded my expectations.
If my values and goals resonate with you, please consider supporting fiercely independent media analysis that fills in gaps in coverage of the Canadian journalism landscape. How? Feel free to provide feedback, pass along resources, donate money or simply share this newsletter with your friends.
BIG congrats on your soft launch, Anita! Members of the 2021 GNI Startups Boot Camp really like your landing page.