Over the past year we’ve seen interesting and sometimes questioning comments posted about us on social media. We thought we’d share this information that may answer some of the questions about us.
Why does the NB Media Co-op exist?
We were formed in 2009 following a successful New Brunswick Social Forum in 2008 in Fredericton, where 200 people rooted in a variety of social movements gathered under the hopeful banner, “Another New Brunswick and World are Possible.”
The people who came together at this forum recognized they had one common problem: the media in New Brunswick. They were from different walks of life: workers, students, anti-capitalists, anti-imperialists, peace activists, Indigenous rights activists, feminists, gay rights activists, labour unionists, environmentalists and artists.
Following the adage, “Don’t Hate the Media, Be the Media,” we did just that, and the NB Media Co-op was born months later and officially incorporated shortly after. Click here to learn more.
Who is the NB Media Co-op and how do we work?
The NB Media Co-op is made possible by dedicated folks from across the province of New Brunswick. The editorial board and board of directors are elected at our AGM. Click here to learn about our team.
We are all volunteers. Our editorial board members have journalism training and experience. All of us are committed to social justice.
The NB Media Co-op chose the not-for-profit co-operative model as the most democratic model for producing and disseminating media. Free from the constraints of the profit motive, advertisers, and state funding, the NB Media Co-op is able to tell stories without fear of censorship and from the perspectives of those often ignored, marginalized or misrepresented in corporate media.
Articles and story ideas come from our members and readers, or are initiated by the editorial board. We encourage all our contributors to review our story guidelines. The editors work with writers to shape a story suitable for publication. We strive for accuracy and attribution and do not publish anonymous stories. All news stories are reviewed by a minimum of two editors and the full board reviews and approves opinion submissions. When editing articles, we use a social justice lens that considers access, agency, advocacy and solidarity action.
What do we publish and who reads us?
Our flagship online publication is called the NB Media Co-op, hosted on a secure server in Canada. We also publish a monthly broadsheet called The Brief.
As an independent media outlet, we publish stories not covered in the mainstream commercial media. Our stories take a social justice lens and include the perspectives of workers, students, indigenous peoples, and other marginalized groups. Given that we do not accept funding from governments or commercial sources, we are free to publish using only respected journalism practices without other pressures or restrictions.
Most days, we add new stories to our online publication, through which we have access to user statistics. We monitor our stats to understand which stories are popular and where our users live. Every month, more than 25,000 unique readers access hundreds of stories on our online publication, including new stories and articles from our 10-year archive. Our stories are popular: every month each of our top news and opinion articles are read by more than 5,000 unique readers.
Our readers are primarily in New Brunswick, throughout the province, and we have regular readers across Canada. Every month, people in dozens of countries around the world also read our stories.
We share all our online stories on our Facebook page (3,200 followers to date) and send some stories out on Twitter (2,000 followers to date).
We publish our broadsheet, The Brief, 10 times a year, with a print circulation of 2,000 copies. The Brief is archived here. The Brief includes an edited version of three or four recent stories from our online publication. We mail The Brief across the province and our local community distributers bring it to community centres, offices, cafés and other places where people gather and can pick it up for free. If you would like to distribute The Brief in your community, contact us: info@nbmediacoop.org
Who funds the NB Media Co-op?
We rely on memberships and individual donations as well as support from community partners. We do not seek or accept funding from government or other commercial sources. Given that we are run by volunteers, our costs are quite low. Our primary expense is printing The Brief and the postage to distribute it across the province.
At our annual general meeting, members approve the budget for the upcoming year. The NB Media Co-op is a registered cooperative with the province of New Brunswick. Our verified accounts are submitted annually to the province following our annual members’ meeting.
How does someone become a member of the NB Media Co-op?
Becoming a member is very simple. Click here to become a member or to donate. You can also subscribe to our mailing list to get the news delivered to your inbox: info@nbmediacoop.org
Any more questions? Email info@nbmediacoop.org
