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Annual Report 09 Draft V1 rabble (rāb'əl) noun 1. a disorderly crowd. 2. Canada’s online source for alternative news and views. 2009 Annual Report What can you find at rabble.ca? in-cahoots: our featured links to social original news and columns movement and labour stories reprints of articles from many other progressive sources live and pre-recorded video Canada-wide event calendar a plethora of podcasts on issues of the day issue pages: an aggregate of stories, links and news on specific issues now what?: advice from an the book lounge: a multi-featured book urban feminist section with original reviews, book events and more special features: short-term sections that public polls to check the pulse of focus on a range of issues rabble visitors daily and weekly e-newsletter with links to our hot stories blogs from writers and activists across Canada (and beyond) progressive newswire and news from around the world babble: our famous moderated discussion board video commons: where people can talk news and views face to face We l c o m e from Publisher Kim Elliott & President Duncan Cameron “Over the last two decades, at least, corporate speech and state speech, in tandem, have narrowed the public space pushing us into ever disappearing, ever meager definitions of the communal. Contesting that hegem- ony, over language and politics, rabble reclaims and widens the space of citizenship.” Author and Toronto Poet Laureate Dionne Brand rabble.ca is a form of fight-back. rabble.ca fights back against the narratives of private over public, of business over labour, of "me" over "us." Our community media is just that: about, by and for communities to explore the issues of the day. We think rabble helps us all to learn, challenge, grow and work to make Canada a better place. In the spirit of promoting a more democratic and equitable Canada, we are proud that our site is 100% free to access and has been since we started in 2001. This means we survive because of support we get from community members, labour organizations and civil society organizations, in- cluding our "sustaining partners." We want to welcome the Manitoba Government and General Em- ployees Union and the Ontario Public Service Employees Union who joined us as new sustaining partners in 2009 and thank them for joining others in supporting us. (See page 5 for a list of our sustaining partners.) We take the trust we get from our supporters and visitors very seriously, and in 2009 we used our resources to continue to improve rabble: . We broadcast a number of live events, including the historic livestream of banned British MP George Galloway's speech from the U.S. border . We introduced fifty new blogs and eight new podcasts . We introduced three new columnists: Ashifa Kassam, George Fethering and Ralph Surette . We provided comprehensive coverage of the Copenhagen climate conference, the prorogation of Parlia- ment and of the Gaza Freedom March . We launched a redesigned version of our weekly e-newsletter and launched a daily version as well . We launched "issue pages," a one-stop shop for news, videos and more on specific topics such as Gaza. Ran special features on the U.S. health care fight and a project called "Who Are You?" — An exploration of identity at the “Edge of Tech" . We launched the "rabble video commons," a pilot of a video discussion area of the site . We improved the technical side of things with a new search function and added "geo-tagging" to our ad- vertising package so ads can targeted to specific locations Of course, we still offer great progressive contributors, live and pre-recorded video, babble — our moderated discussion board, our book section, and more. In other words, we built a stronger and better site. In fact, rabble.ca was a finalist of the 2009 Canadian Online Publishing Awards for "best online-only website." The end of 2009 also saw the departure of rabble editor Derrick O'Keefe, who made great contribu- tions to rabble including moving rabble into its redesign in 2008. Derrick is currently working on his writing career and we are pleased that rabblers can still find Derrick's analysis and insight through his rabble blog. We also said goodbye to Jenn Watt who started as a books intern and then became our in-cahoots editor and a guest editor extraordinaire. Jenn is now the editor in chief at a regional newspaper. We are happy to welcome award-winning journalist Cathryn Atkinson as our news and features editor. Thank you to our guest editors who filled during our hiring process: David Oswald Mitchell, Lisa Manfield, Stephen Dale, and May Lui. If you like what you see in these pages and on rabble.ca, we encourage you to become a member or to make a donation (www.rabble.ca/support). And if you have a newsworthy story to tell, please let us know. In the meantime, find great news coverage at rabble.ca. Kim Elliott Duncan Cameron Publisher President rabble.ca annual report 1 rabble.ca annual report 2 rabble.ca 2009 annual report table of contents welcome 1 thank you Sustaining Partners 5 rabble’s birthday 7 news features and columns 8 features contributors 10 netted news and newswire 11 wanted: Stephen Harper for Crimes against Democracy 12 in cahoots 13 rabbletv 15 blogs 19 rabble podcast network 21 rabble news comes to you 23 issues 24 special features 25 what’s up 26 the book lounge 28 babble 31 membership 32 advertising 33 marketing - media sponsorships 34 marketing - memberships 35 marketing - conferences 36 rabble.ca annual report 3 marketing - information tables 37 marketing - e-newsletter 37 marketing - promotional exchanges 37 financial reflections 38 measuring website traffic 39 people at rabble.ca 41 rabble by the numbers 42 appendix A - rabble podcast shows 43 support rabble and thanks to sustaining partners inside back cover rabble.ca annual report 4 THANK YOU SUSTAINING PARTNERS rabble’s sustaining partners are organizations that support rabble’s mission and vision financially, receiving support from rabble in advertising and site promotion. Thank you to our partners for their support throughout the year! The importance of the community of 2009 Sustaining Partners unions and civil society organizations that support rabble is hard to over- B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union state. These are crucial partnerships Canadian Auto Workers with organizations that value independ- Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives ent media and who see the issues they Canadian Union of Postal Workers support on rabble.ca. Canadian Union of Public Employees Communication Energy and Paperworkers Sustaining partners are thanked in a Council of Canadians special section of our site’s front page Douglas-Coldwell Foundation and also receive free advertising on Hospital Employees’ Union rabble.ca. In addition, all sustaining Manitoba Government and General Employees Union partners are in cahoots members, National Union of Public and General Employees meaning stories from their website are Ontario Public Service Employees Union featured on our front page in a special Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation section. If your organization would like Public Service Alliance of Canada more information about becoming a United Steelworkers sustaining partner, please contact [email protected] rabble.ca annual report 5 rabble ʼs birthday: What's wrong with our newspapers? rabble.ca has always been an online-only news source, but we care about newspapers and we care about local news. To celebrate rabble's 8th birthday in April 2009, rabble hosted an event to explore the future of newspapers and of news in general entitled "What's Wrong With Our Newspapers?" The University of Toronto OPIRG, NOW magazine and Ryerson Free Press sponsored the event. Our dynamic panel exploring this issue was Peter C. New- man, Linda McQuaig, Wayne MacPhail and host Duncan Cameron, rabble’s President. To a full crowd at the Koffler Auditorium at the University of Toronto, these journalists, authors and media analysts raised significant concerns about the future of newspapers and the future of news (and the need for independent news). Leading into the event Wayne MacPhail appeared on the show Take Five on CIUT radio to dis- cuss the event and the issues it hope to raise. Following the event, rabble hosted a birthday party giving rabble visitors and contributors a chance to meet with each other and the panelists. As part of our birthday series, we also hosted a fo- rum in Vancouver all about the environmental im- pact of the 2010 Olympic Games. We asked "Are these really going to the 'Greenest Games,' as or- ganizers have touted, or are we seeing an unparal- leled exercise in 'greenwashing?'" The event fea- tured Chris Shaw, author of Five Ring Circus: Myths and Realities of the Olympic Games. Chris Shaw be- came a key blogger on rabble.ca leading up to the games, widely cited as a key resource on the resis- tance to the Olympics. On our 9th birthday in 2010, rabble will launch an Derrick O’Keefe and Chris Shaw iPhone and iPad application. rabble.ca annual report 6 On their 8th birthday rabble.ca asks: Peter C Newman Linda mcquaig What’s wrong Wayne mcphail Duncan Cameron with our Newspapers? A lively discussion with: Peter C. Newman Peter C. Newman is the recipient of seven Linda McQuaig honorary doctorates, and has won every journalism award there is and has been ap- pointed to a Companion in the Order of Wayne MacPhail Canada. He is the author of 24 books. moderated by rabble.ca board Linda McQuaig is a best selling author and President Duncan Cameron award winning journalist. She is author of seven books on politics and economics – all national bestsellers.
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