This story was scheduled to appear in the Tri-City News.
A changing media landscape, including the demise of the Tri-City News, has the City of Port Moody scrambling to find new ways to share factual information with residents and counter disinformation spread on social media.
Tuesday, April 15, council approved an expenditure of $50,000 this year, and an $85,000 budget item in 2026, to boost the city’s communication resources.
The money will be spent to help fill an “anticipated information gap on timely information” about council decisions, as well as other general city news, good news stories, details about city services and programming along with calls to action.
The information will be posted on the city’s redesigned website, which is expected to be ready to launch in June, through a newsfeed that would trigger emails to subscribers or possibly even an e-newsletter, said Port Moody’s manager of communications and engagement, Lindsay Todd, in a presentation.
Todd said with the closure of the Tri-City News, which its parent company Glacier Media announced Feb. 21 (and subsequently occurred April 17), “a gap will emerge in information being pushed out to residents.”
The News has covered civic affairs and other happenings in Port Moody, as well as Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and the villages of Anmore and Belcarra for more than 40 years. It ceased its print publication in Aug., 2023 to exist exclusively online, a model the company said has proved “unsustainable.”
Another publication that also covered the Tri-Cities, the Coquitlam Now, closed in 2015.
Todd said having the city take more control of disseminating its own information and sharing its good news stories will “improve trust and transparency.”
Coun. Diana Dilworth said the rise of social media and demise of traditional media is making it challenging to ensure residents get factual information about what the city is up to.
“There’s got to be a better way to do something different and better.”
Coun. Amy Lubik agreed.
“I think it’s really important we’re being proactive, especially with the loss of local media,” she said. “Humans are storytelling creatures and if there’s a gap in information, we fill it.”
More often than not, she added, that gap is filled with misinformation or disinformation spread on social media that polarizes residents.
“I hope we can use this as a tool to bring people together.”
But a journalism instructor at Langara College and former editor of the Tri-City News, Rich Dal Monte, said it can be challenging for an institution with a vested interest to gain trust that it’s disseminating a fulsome set of facts.
“For better or for worse, since the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s a lot more mistrust of institutions,” said Dal Monte. “There’s always going to be people who don’t believe what they’re being told.”
Dal Monte said an independent news entity, however, has no vested interest when reporting on civic affairs.
“Whatever they do, we’re going to cover it.”
Coun. Haven Lurbiecki, the only councillor to vote against the motion, said no amount of message massaging by the city can counter unsubstantiated misinformation residents may read on social media or the way they feel about council decisions.
“I’m just wondering what the problem is we’re trying to address,” she said.
MARIO BARTEL 