Local Journalism Initiative strengthens local civic journalism across Canada

Canadian news organizations are invited to republish stories that are created under the Local Journalism Initiative (LJI).

Launched by the Government of Canada in 2019, the Local Journalism Initiative supports the creation of original civic journalism that is relevant to the diverse needs of underserved communities across Canada, broadening availability and consumption of local and regional news on matters of civic governance. The LJI exists to strengthen local civic journalism across the country.

Every day, LJI reporters hold politicians and public bodies to account and shine light into dark places, with the goal of providing accurate, diverse and relevant news about civic institutions to communities.

Some recent topics covered by LJI reporters include:

• Children/youth

• Environment/energy/conservation/climate

• Ethnocultural/racialized communities

• Health/mental health/substance abuse/health care/long-term care

• Housing

• Immigration policy

• Public works/construction/infrastructure

• Research and development/science/innovation

LJI stories will be available for republication by accredited media organizations across the country through a Creative Commons license, broadening and strengthening the reach of the content and coverage. All LJI content must be properly attributed to LJI reporters and more about attribution can be found here.

Stories can be found on the LJI News Centre. To access the stories, you’ll need to first create an account that will be examined by an administrator.

If your account is approved, please note there are certain requirements regarding bylines and acknowledgement. For example, all republished articles must be attributed in the following way: “Reporter Name, Local Journalism Initiative, Original publisher”

For more information on process, we invite you to read How to Use the LJI News Centre. If you have any questions about republishing articles, please contact News Media Canada at lji@newsmediacanada.ca. Answers to questions about the Local Journalism Initiative can be found here.

By sharing this material with your audience, you can help Canadians be better informed about topics of public interest that affect them.