A few members of the Halifax Typographical Union’s newsroom unit on the picket line last week in Halifax. (CHRISTIAN LAFORCE)
Hello, world!
Welcome to the Local Xpress.
This is a brand-new online news site brought to you by the 61 striking newsroom and bureau staff of Canada’s largest independent daily newspaper. You can read about that here, here and here if you’re interested.
Since going on strike a week ago, we’ve missed the work that we do. Remo Zaccagna, who covers municipal politics, went to a Halifax regional council this week and live-tweeted the meeting on his own time. Provincial reporter Michael Gorman kept talking to sources and gathering material for stories. Frances Willick is working on a story you’ll see in the days to come. Two photographers raced to a fire, then posted photos and video on social media.
Clearly, we needed a bigger boat.
And having our own news site is an idea that we’d talked about for a little while. Today is our first offering and it took a week of work off and on (mostly on) to put together. We needed a few stories and some photos to start. Our web team learned a new publishing platform. We don’t have ads or any other revenue source, at least yet.
So, this is just a start. And if you need to get in touch with a news item, reach out at localxpresshfx@gmail.com
You’ll notice there are no sections yet on the site. We also won’t be covering everything. You won’t see news release rewrites from us or other stuff you’d get from larger newsrooms.
What we hope to bring you are stories and photos that you won’t find elsewhere. Or if you do see them elsewhere, we hope our stuff distinguishes itself by its quality and perspective.
And speaking of you, if you got this far in this little note, it’s likely that you’re one of the many people who’s been following us on social media or even dropped by our picket line with kind words and treats.
So to readers, this is a thank-you card. We didn’t know how much our work would be missed and we appreciate how loudly you’ve told us.
And to journalism, this is our love letter: Honey, we’re home.
P.S.: This first edition of the Xpress is dedicated to our families. It’s hard enough living with a journalist, let alone one who’s on strike. We love you more than you will ever know.