What we do.
Local news is good for democracy. But with the collapse of community newspapers, many people can’t find local journalism that accurately reflects their communities and lives.
The Discourse is building a new model of independent, local news. By supporting in-depth journalism accountable to diverse communities, we are contributing to a more equitable democracy.
Community-powered media.
The Discourse builds local digital news products that bring communities together.
Tools for journalists.
The Discourse provides training, consulting and technology to empower independent journalists to serve their communities with in-depth news.
Deep dives.
The Discourse produces collaborative reporting projects with media partners to investigate issues that matter to our community members.
Our work.
The Discourse Cowichan.
In the Cowichan Valley, we’re working to grow the community to a sustainable size by the end of 2019. How? By responding to our community members’ curiosity.
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Independent News Challenge
The Discourse’s Independent News Challenge is a 9-week program to support a more diverse and sustainable journalism industry in Canada.
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Child Welfare.
Over three years, reporter Brielle Morgan pioneered a new, collaborative approach to journalism that centred children and families in coverage of B.C.’s broken child welfare system.
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The Discourse Urban Nation.
As part of our on-going commitment to reconciliation, The Discourse piloted Urban Nation in 2018/19 to experiment with how to serve the urban Indigenous population of Greater Vancouver.
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The Discourse Scarborough.
From Oct. 2018 to June 2019, journalists Anita Li and Aparita Bhandari created pop-up journalism and community engagement in Scarborough that invited locals to inform stories to combat stereotypes.
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What people are saying.
"This article makes me so excited for the future. I feel a sense of awakening and reassurance that maybe we’re headed towards a positive future."
Deepak Sharma
Community member, The Discourse
"Discourse is my go-to news source. It tells the stories that no one else is, and covers community issues that matter. It makes a difference to see those stories reflected — it shows we matter, too."
Ginger Gosnell-Myers
Community member, The Discourse Urban Nation
"So often in today’s information-saturated world, I skim read. I approach your stories differently, as they bring me closer to the people in my community. I set aside quiet time to let your words sink in."
Pamela Williams
Community member, The Discourse Cowichan
Media innovation.
Apply to the Independent News Challenge
The Discourse is sharing what we’ve learned, and mobilizing our resources to help journalist entrepreneurs and small publishers grow.
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Launching Set The Agenda, a collaborative journalism project for the federal election
The Discourse and APTN project is driven by communities overlooked in the typical election news cycle.
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Digital startups are filling gaps as Canadian newspapers continue to struggle
Your monthly analysis of Canadian news industry trends and update on The Discourse.
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About us.
The Discourse is a digital news media company based in Vancouver B.C. The original company, Discourse Media, was founded by three journalists in 2014 to experiment with new forms of news. Since then, our team has been producing award-winning collaborative journalism that privileges diverse perspectives, is driven by the pursuit of truth, and creates positive change in underrepresented communities.
In 2017, we began developing a new business model for providing in-depth local news. Supported with startup funding from value-aligned partners, investors, family and community members who became owners in our company through an equity crowdfunding campaign (plus a lot of bootstrapping), we launched our community-powered platform The Discourse in 2018.
The Discourse is building a network of independent journalists collaborating on new business models to sustainably provide in-depth news that serves their local communities.
👉🏾 Read the 10 principles that guide our business and editorial decisions.
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Contact us.
We would love to hear from you. You can reach out to specific members of our team here.