Shelley Petit, chair of the NB Coalition of Persons with Disabilities, speaks outside the Legislative Assembly on June 24, 2024, as part of actions across Canada protesting the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe. v. Wade two years earlier. Photo: Dora Szemok
In June, activists marched to the New Brunswick legislature in solidarity with Americans striving to reclaim autonomy over their bodies.
The march marked the second anniversary of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that protected the right to have an abortion until the court reversed it in 2022.
In Fredericton, a volunteer with the NB Media Co-op documented the march, which was part of national women's strike protests across Canada. The coverage by Dora Szemok, working in collaboration with LJI journalist David Gordon Koch, garnered praise from the organizer of the event in Moncton.
"That was such a well written article," said Shelley Petit, the chair of the NB Coalition of Persons with Disabilities. "I shared it with the leader nationally of the march and they felt it was one of the best articles across Canada. It was hard hitting with great details and greatly appreciated."
The reporting appeared in an article on the website of the NB Media Co-op and in the latest edition of the NB Update, a television program produced in collaboration with CHCO TV Charlotte County.
The report detailed concerns from social justice advocates in New Brunswick about gender-based oppression and inequality at home and abroad. It not only documented their grievances about issues such as a shortage of child care spaces and access to surgical abortions, but also pushed the story forward by seeking out and documenting a response from the provincial government.
It's just one example of how the NB Media Co-op provides rigorous civic journalism through a social justice lens, often reporting on issues or events that might otherwise get ignored by mainstream media. Having an LJI-sponsored journalist on staff allows us to provide more guidance to volunteers who produce such great work, in turn helping the NB Media Co-op gain readers and supporters.
"As always, the NB Media Coop is the one of the only media/reporting institutions in NB that tells the story as it is," Petit said. "This is why, although I'm a person with a disability in NB and living on limited funds, I find it vital to support the NB Media Co-op with a membership."
Ajouter un commentaire
A propos l’IJL
LJI Impact is the section of commediaportal.ca where the journalists and their organizations participating in CACTUS' Local Journalism Initiative can share their greatest successes.
Through the written stories, photos and videos you see in the LJI Impact section, you'll be able to read first hand accounts about how the presence of a community journalist is making a difference in communities across Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative and the Community Media Portal.
The Community Media Portal is a gateway to the audio-visual media created by community media centres across Canada. These include traditional community TV and radio stations, as well as online and new media production centres.
Community media are not-for-profit production hubs owned and operated by the communities they serve, established both to provide local content and reflection for their communities, as well as media training and access for ordinary citizens to the latest tools of media production, whether traditional TV and radio, social and online media, virtual reality, augmented reality or video games.
The Community Media Portal has been funded by the Local Journalism Initiative (the LJI) of the Department of Canadian Heritage, and administered by the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) in association with the Fédération des télévisions communautaires autonomes du Québec (the Fédération). Under the LJI, over 100 journalists have been placed in underserved communities and asked to produce civic content that underpins Canadian democratic life.
