Local news startup taps community spirit

Local news fans dismayed by the closing of the daily newspaper in Orillia are pledging by the dozens to donate $5 a month to a just-launched news website calledĀ OrilliaMatters.com, part of a grassroots movement in Canada to replace silenced community news voices.

The site is the seventh started by fast-growing online news company Village Media Inc. of Sault Ste. Marie, but the first to directly seek donations. You can read more about Village Media’s growth campaign here.