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 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 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: 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 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 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. Thursday April 16th, 7:30 (doors 7:00)

Wayne MacPhail has been a print and on- Koffler Auditorium 569 Spadina Cresent line journalist for over 20 years. He is now president of w8nc, a communications com- $10 or PWYC FREE for rabble.ca members pany specializing in emerging technologies. Seating limited, reserve a seat at: Duncan Cameron is an adjunct professor of political science at Simon Fraser Univer- [email protected] sity, a director of the Karl Polanyi Institute of Political Economy at Concordia Univer- sity in Montreal and author of many books.

Sponsored by University of Toronto OPIRG. Media sponsor: Ryerson Free Press

rabble.ca annual report 7 news features and columnists

Behind the curtain: who made this section happen?

Staff: Derrick O'Keefe, Editor (09); Alex Samur, assistant editor (09); Michelle Gregus, East Coast Editor (09)

Guest editors: David Oswald Mitchell, Lisa Manfield, Stephen Dale, May Lui

Interns: Ronak Ghorbani, Mara Kardas-Nelson

Columnists Alice Klein People come to rabble.ca for news and views and Am Johal we deliver it in many ways, including informative Amy Goodman written features that explore timely issues and Ashifa Kassam columnists who provide rabble readers with pro- Duncan Cameron vocative insight all year long. Our news section George Fetherling features original and reprinted articles from across Jerry West Canada and beyond. Jessica Yee Jim Stanford A small sample from our news section: Jooneed Khan June Chua The de facto prime minister steps down, by Dun- Linda McQuaig can Cameron Ms. Communicate Canada's sub-prime mortgage time bomb, by Mur- Murray Dobbin ray Dobbin Naomi Klein Ralph Surette A New Deal for Artists, by June Chua Rick Salutin Steve Anderson Canadian Foreign Policy Fails Its Citizens, by Wayne MacPhail Ashifa Kassam Features contributors Twittering in Tehran and How Small is the New (see all 261 below) Big, by Wayne MacPhail

Ms. Communicate

What's a news and views site without an advice columnist? rabble offers up advice from an urban feminist.

rabble.ca annual report 8 At rabble.ca weʼve got layers and layers of news and views!

rabble.ca annual report 9 Features Contributors: (not including general contributors, bloggers)

Aine Moorad Emily Beers Karl Flecker Paul Manly Alain Perreault Emily Burke Kate Kurys Paul Weinberg Alan Sears Eric Mang Katherine Giroux-Bougard Peggy Nash Alexis Brown Erin Albert Kathleen O'Hara Peter Dreier Alice Walker Erin Simpson Kelly Quance Peter Hogarth Allendria Brunjes Ethan Rabidoux Ken Lewenza Pierre Beaudet Am Johal Felipe Stuart Cournoyer Kevin McLeod Radha Jappan Amy Barrington Frances Willick Kevin Shimmin Ralph Nader Andrea Harden-Donahue Fred Wilson Kimball Cariou Richard Falk Andrea McDowell Frederico Fuentes Krystalline Kraus Rick Arnold Andrea Peloso Gail Davidson Kshama Ranawana Rick Garton Andrew Jackson Gary Engler Larry Brown Robert Fox Andy Lehrer Gavin Fridell Laura Downs Robert Hickey Anita Krajnc Gerry Barr Lauren Baron Robert Jensen Ann Ariyadasa Greg Elmer Lauren Mohamed Robin Breon Ann Wright Greg MacDougall Leo Panitch Robin Long Anne Edwards Greg Palast Lewis Rifkind Roger Annis Anthony Fenton Gurpreet Singh Lia Tarachansky Ron Verzuh Art Young Harsha Walia Liane Fisher Ronak Ghorbani Ashley Holly Heidi Rathjen Libby Davies Rosaleen O'Mahony Bahija Réghaï Helen Forsey Liisa Schofield Rosemary Morgan Barry Weisleder Herman Rosenfeld Lindsay Hinshelwood Roz Allen Bill McKibben Hilary Beaumont Lindsey German Salma Tarikh Bill Tieleman Hugh Armstrong Lucy Sharratt Sam Gindin Blair Redlin Ian Angus Maha Zimmo Sarah Ghabrial Britt Aharoni Ian Beeching Mai Nguyen Sasha Lilley Bruce Campbell Ian Boyko Manuel Pérez Rocha Scott Piatkowski Caleb Chepesiuk J.F. Conway Mara Kardas-Nelson Sedef Arat-Koc Cameron MacLean Jack Layton Marc Lee Shobhita Sharma Carlos Torchia James Carruthers Marina Brkljaca Shourideh Molavi Carmelle Wolfson James Clancy Marion Traub-Werner Sid Shniad Charlotte Ireland James Clark Mary Corkery Simon Black Chris Mitchell James Gotowiec Matt Puddister Stefan Christoff Chris Montanini James Laxer Matthew Adams Stephen Clarkson Claire Michalewicz James R. Compton Maude Barlow Stephen Dale Claude Vaillancourt James Suggett Meena Nallainathan Steve Bull Colleen Fuller James Winter Meera Karunananthan Steven Kennedy Corey Balsam Jasmin Ramsey Mel Watkins Stuart Hammond Dale Carruthers Jay Hartling Michael Buzzelli Stuart Trew Dan Punch Jeff Noonan Michael Raab Sue Colley Dave Himmelstein Jenn Watt Michelle Higgins Sunera Thobani Dave Lindorff Jennifer Dales Michelle Langlois Suresh Bhalla Dave Meslin Jennifer deGroot Mikala Taylor Susan Peters Dave Zirin Jennifer Moore Mike Heffernan Suzanne Weiss David Bernans Jenny Peto Mita Sengupta Sylvia Squair David Chudnovsky Jesse Freeston Monia Mazigh Tamara Pearson David MacDonald Jesse Reynolds Monique Bégin Tanner Mirrlees David Primack Jessica Ireland Monique Johnson Tanya Roberts-Davis David Skinner Jessica Rose Myles Estey Tara Le Tout Dax D'Orazio Jill Buchner Nancy Hamm Theresa Gulliver Deanna Zandt Joe Cressy Natalia Halec Thomas Ponniah Deborah Peterson Small John Foster Natasha marar Tin Maung Htoo Dennis Howlett John Greyson Nathalie Provost Toby Sanger Dennis Pilon John Paul Hogan Nathan Crompton Todd Devlin Derek Rasmussen John Riddell Nathan Rao Todd Gordon Derrick O'Keefe John Warnock Nick Fillmore Vanessa Samur Diana Bronson Jonah Schein Noam Chomsky Vivien Fellegi Dianah Smith Jonathan Cook Norman Girvan Walied Khogali Don Kossick Josh Freeman Omar Barghouti Wambi Michael Don Sawyer Josh Scheinert Omman Hussain Wayne MacPhail Donald Gutstein Judy Rebick Oscar Reyes William J. Astore Dorit Naaman June Chua Pam Kapoor Winnie Ng Dylan Penner Justin Podur Pam Rasmussen Yumi Hotta Edward Corrigan Justin Stayshyn Pat Armstrong Yves Engler Ellen Russell Karen Wirsig Paul Durber Zahraa Al Khalisi

rabble.ca annual report 10 netted news/newswire

We are proud of all the original content that rab- b l e p r o d u c e s daily, but we also know that the Internet is full of o t h e r g o o d sources.

In the interest of connecting to and supporting inde- pendent media, rabble.ca's netted news o n o u r homepage brings RSS feeds from:

• The Dominion • Canadian Dimension • Briarpatch • The Tyee, • The Bullet • Herizons • Alternet • This Magazine • The New Internationalist • The Vancouver Observer • The Daily Nuisance.

rabble.ca also of- fers a newswire on our front page with feeds from CBC, Al Jazeera a n d t h e The Guardian.

rabble.ca annual report 11 rabble had a bit of fun and produced this flyer and then t-shirt for the prorogue protests:

rabble.ca annual report 12 in cahoots Share your news with the world on rabble.ca! in cahoots is our reader’s di- rect link to stories from civil society partners. rabble’s front page, we link directly to social movement groups with news events and urgent issues. These links are on the top of our home page.

Behind the curtain: who made this section happen?

Staff: Jenn Watt (until winter ‘09), Michelle Langlois (winter ‘09 to present)

There were over fifty in cahoots members in 2009, connecting rab- ble readers to a wide range of arti- cles, from the Polaris Institute's coverage of the Tar Sands to Africa Files’ look at hydropower in the Democratic Republic of Congo to the Council of Canadians and site 41 to CUPE and Air Canada cuts and much, much, much more.

in cahoots membership is charged on a sliding scale designed to match an organization's ability to pay. All Sustaining Partner or- ganizations are in cahoots mem- bers.

See 2009 in cahoots members on the next page

rabble.ca annual report 13 2009 in cahoots members

Africa Files MSF (Doctors Without Borders) Amnesty International Ontario Health Coalition BC Teachers Federation Toronto and York Region Labour Council Canadian Council for International Co- National Farmers Union operation The North-South Institute Canadian Media Guild Parkland Institute Carnegie Community Action Centre Polaris Institute Centre for Social Justice Probe International Canadian Palestinian Educational Ex- Rights and Democracy change South Asia Partnership Canada Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions Service Employees International Union Council of Canadians Taking IT Global Canadian Labour Congress Working TV Canadian Peace Alliance Cathy Crowe Newsletter Citizens for Public Justice and sustaining partners: Doctors Without Borders B.C. Government and Service Employ- DisAbled Women's Network Ontario ees’ Union Democracy Watch Canadian Auto Workers Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Societies Canadian Union of Postal Workers Citizens for Public Justice Canadian Union of Public Employees The Consultative Group on Early Child- Communication Energy and Paperwork- hood Care and Development ers Environmental Defense Council of Canadians FAFIA Douglas-Coldwell Foundation International Institute for Sustainable Hospital Employees’ Union Development Manitoba Government and General Em- International Fund for Animal Welfare ployees Union International Freedom of Expression National Union of Public and General Exchange Employees Investing in Albertans Ontario Public Service Employees Union Greenpeace Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Journalists for Human Rights Federation Public Service Alliance of Canada United Steelworkers

rabble.ca annual report 14 rabbletv offers an alternative take on politics, entertainment, society, stories, the community and life in general. It's a news outlet for independent stories told by artists, activists, individuals and jour- nalists from coast to coast to coast.

rabbletv offers an alternative take on politics, en- tertainment, society, stories, the community and Behind the curtain: life in general. It's an outlet for independent sto- ries told using video by artists, activists, individu- who made this section happen? als and journalists from coast to coast to coast. Staff: Tor Sandberg, rabbletv From a strong presence at the climate change program director talks in Copenhagen, to coverage of electoral fraud in Iran to Toronto's Pride Parade and be- Interns: Alexandra MacAulay yond, rabbletv expended its coverage. Abdelwahab, Ci-Ci Fan, Ryan Hayes and Sachin Seth. We made Internet history in Canada by live broadcasting the speech by banned British MP Volunteers: Anita Krajnc George Galloway from the U.S. border. This story was picked up by CTV, Global and other main- stream media. We also piloted the feature "You Ask" where viewers can ask live questions to newsmak- ers. In 2009, rabbletv featured 260 videos comprised of both original and syndicated content, as well as several live-streamed events (see below). Our live video coverage is possible due to a partnership with Livestream.com. rabbletv also features videos from independent, Canadian bands on a feature called “Indie Inside” (see below) rabble videos can also be found on our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/user/rabbletv. In 2010, rabble will launch an iPhone and iPad application where rabble videos (and other content) will be found on the go!

rabble.ca annual report 15 rabbletv highlights

Live broadcasts highlights: In March, rabbletv broadcast a presentation by British Member of Parliament George Galloway to thousands after he was banned from entering Canada.

In October, rabbletv livestreamed from Parliament Hill a special public screening of the feature documentary "You, Me and the SPP: Trading Democracy for Corporate Rule." The event featured a toast by NDP MP Peter Julian to celebrate the quiet cancellation of the Security and Prosperity Partnership.

Also in October, rabbletv broadcast the Annual General Meeting of the Council of Cana- dians from St. John, .

In September, rabbletv livestreamed the Toronto Declaration against the Toronto In- ternational Film Festival’s spotlight on Tel Aviv, featuring Israeli-Canadian filmmaker Elle Flanders and Canadian filmmaker John Greyson. This declaration, signed by such people as Alice Walker, Elia Suleiman, Naomi Klein, Velcrow Ripper and many others made international headlines.

In November, rabbletv showcased the opening ceremonies of the Canadian Labour In- ternational Film Festival.

rabble.ca annual report 16 recorded video highlights: • Naomi Klein gives angry Mermaid Award

• Exclusive interview with Elizabeth May in Copenhagen during the climate talks

• Coverage of arrests and protests in Copenhagen

• Exclusive interview with CBC's Jian Ghomeshi on Iran

• Queers come out against Israeli apartheid at Toronto Pride: Thousands of stu- dents march for a poverty-free Ontario

• Thousands of students march for a poverty-free Ontario

• Rebick: The EI reforms the NDP might support "suck" • Are Canadians ready for Al Jazeera English? • Tamil protests blocks major Toronto highway

rabble.ca annual report 17 An ad rabble ran to promote indie inside in the Mayworks Festival program

Featuring music videos from Canadian Independent bands, rabbletv’s “Indie Inside” segment highlighted 25 different artists in 2009. Indie Inside coordi- nator Adriana Byrne also organized 25 indie CD prize giveaways, raising this artist-focused segment of rabbletv to an integral part of the site.

Tune-in for a few Indie Inside highlights:

• Vancouver's Mother Mother and their original approach to modern pop mu- sic • Raoul Santomingo Experience: Who is Raoul? Does he exist? Nobody knows for sure. Raoul cares not for irrelevant questions • The best rock and roll happens after dark. Check out Hamilton, Ontario's Young Rival • Four piece pop perfectors from Toronto, The Bicycles, are known for their sparkly live shows. • A music cooperative out of Guelph Ontario, Ohbijou is a seven piece orches-

Behind the curtain: Who made this section happen? Intern: Adriana Byrne

rabble.ca annual report 18 Type to enter text Behind the curtain: who made this section happen? staff: Alex Samur, Kim Elliott blogs Interns: Ronak Ghorbani, Allendria Brunjes, Samantha Power, Mara Kardas-Nelson Blog contributors: 2010 Homelessness Hunger Strike Relay bloggers (multi-author) Alex Samur Following the success of our multi-author 2008 Alice Klein Federal Election blog, rabble's new blog section Allendria Brunjes was integral in providing coverage of major events Am Johal Andrew Brett including the Word Social Forum in Belem, Brazil; Beisan Zubi COP 15 conference in Copenhagen, the lead-up to Ben Powless the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and campaigns like Blair Redlin the Health Care USA (See issue pages), Vancouver Sam Power Derrick O'Keefe Homelessness Strike Relay and CodePink Delega- Campus Notes bloggers (multi-author) tion to Gaza. Chris Shaw Christine Saulnier Council of Canadians bloggers (multi-author) This year we also started a couple of themed Dave Markland multi-author blogs including a feminist blog – "She Diana Bronson Who Holds the Pen;" a student blog – "Campus Dionne Brand Notes" and a books blog – "Bound But Not Emily Hunter Eric Mang Gagged." Fred Wilson Gary Shaul rabble now features more than 50 individual blog- Gaza Delegation bloggers (multi-author) Graeme Stewart gers and 8 multi-author blogs. Health Care Testimonials (multi-author) Ian Capstick In 2010, watch for blog coverage of the G8/G20 Kim Elliott Libby Davies meetings in Toronto, the World Social Forum in Matthew Adams Detroit and more blogging by our In Cahoots Nico Little (Ickaprick & Iron pussy) partners. We also hope to debut more photo- James Laxer based and news blogs from across Canada in the Jessica Rose Jessica Yee blogs section. John Bonnar Josee Madeia A tasty sampling of our bountiful blogs: Joshua Kahn Russell Judy Rebick Mai Nguyen Ben Powless Meagan Perry Kelly Crichton Pro- lobbyists threaten funding for Toronto's Dennis Howlett Mara Kardas-Nelson gay pride Marc Gionet Maysie A tale of three Olympic towns Murray Dobbin Meera Karunananthan Nima Maleki 24 hours in Gaza Paul Boin Peggy Nash Coalition was our coming out to the politics of Pierre Beaudet Ronak Ghorbani change Sharon Fraser She Who Holds The Pen bloggers (multi-author) When the right shrieks, look for what's being con- Stephen Benedetti The Media Consortium blog (multi-author) cealed! Regina Mom (aka Bernadette Wagner) Roz Allen Trish Hennessy Uzma Shakir rabble.ca annual report 19 “The rabble podcast network continues to be the go-to location in Canada and rpn the world.” Meagan Perry, Executive Producer, rabble podcast network

Behind the curtain: In 2009, the rabble podcast network produced who made this section happen? over 680 podcasts for 32 different shows, includ- ing eight new shows. Commentary, news cover- Staff: Meagan Perry, Executive Pro- age, interviews, music features, social justice and ducer, podcasts the arts - we had it all. Intern: Jessa Runciman Podcasters: Many of our podcasts doubled the average number • Alert! from Canadian Dimension: Michael of downloads per program, and new programming Elves, Tommy Allen, Cy Gonick has seen quick adoption by rpn listeners. This • Alternatives Podcast: Peter Stock year, rabble podcast network podcasts were more • Asia Pacific Currents: Piergiorgio Moro, visible than ever. Our podcasts were listed in top Diana Beaumont five lists in both The Walrus and Environment To- • Aw@l Radio: Dan Kellar, Alex Hundert • Boiling Frog: Kelly Reinhardt ronto publications. • The Council of Canadians: Dylan Penner • John Bonnar Audio Blog: John Bonnar rabble organizes podcasts into theme areas — • Green Planet Monitor: Dave Kattenburg "channels" to allow listeners to find shows and • House of Sound and Story: Victoria Fenner stories on the issues that matter to them. • I Read The News Today Oh Boy: Matthew Adams, Stephen Benedetti rabble's flagship podcast: rabble radio • Labour Show:Scott McWhinnie, Erinn White • Living On Purpose: Lynne Thompson This year, rabble radio con- • Needs No Introduction: Jessa Runciman tinued its tradition of high- • Pivot Legal Society: Paul Ryan, James Ash test coverage of social jus- • Podcast DIY: Wayne MacPhail tice issues in Canada and • Prosecast: Cathi Bond worldwide, producing origi- • Rabble Radio: Meagan Perry, Wayne MacPhail nal material and featuring • Radio Book Lounge: Alex Samur the best of the rabble pod- • Radio Tadamon: Stefan Christoff cast network in its broad- • Redeye: The Redeye Collective cast. The program hosted • Reel Women: Cathi Bond, Judy Rebick reports from the youth Speak!: Sachin Seth, Journalists for Hu- • delegation at the COP 15 summit in Copenhagen, man Rights, Ryerson • Stark Raven: Emily Aspinwall as well as voices from the alternative summit fo- • Street Cred: Adam Bemma cused on climate justice. • Alternatives Podcast: Peter Stock • The Dispatch: Dave Mitchell, Michael Bell rabble radio was also one of the first media outlets • The Reason: Wendie Crouch to cover the announcement of the anti- • The Roaming Ear: Victoria Fenner • The Ruckus: Kevin McGowan homosexuality bill in Uganda, as well as covering • Who Are You? Wayne MacPhail the preparations for activism at the 2010 Olympics • Who's on Second: Wayne MacPhail during the lead-up in 2009, and as mainstream • F-word Collective: Nicole Deagan, Meghan media focused on stories of destruction and de- Isabel Jeffrey, Ellie Gordon Moershel spair in Haiti, we brought accounts of hope and cooperation in that country. (See appendix A for show descriptions)

rabble.ca annual report 20 The rpn environmental channel was recognized by BlogTO as a top pick when they said "on the environmental front they [rabble] are one of the only podcasts covering all of Canada's environmental issues."

Street Cred was a top pick in The Walrus for its coverage of Canada’s oldest housing project, Regent Park

Some podcast highlights:

.The rabble podcast network took to the streets in 2009 with exten- sive coverage of the protests against proroguing parliament.

.Needs No Introduction offered extensive coverage of economic and labour issues in Canada through its coverage of the CUPE National Convention and the Congress of the Humanities.

.rabble podcast network music program The Ruckus gained a great deal of attention this year, especially for a multi-episode series on the musical history of and the Ottawa area featuring interviews with musicians such as Carole Pope. The Ruckus’s host Kevin McGowan appeared on CBC Ottawa Morning to talk about the series.

.Redeye, the rabble podcast network program based at Vancouver Co-op Radio, continued to post current and incisive interviews to the network throughout 2009.

The rabble podcast network will continue to cover social justice at home. However, due to the success we’ve had covering international events using social media and podcasting in 2009, the network will be adding international features. Among new features, the rpn will be building its international coverage with a pro- gram based in Cameroon covering social justice and environmental issues in Africa and we will also be joined by Asia Pacific Currents, a program focused on labour and social justice issues in the Asia Pacific region. rabble.ca annual report 21 New shows at the RPN 2009

The F Word: Council of Canadians: The F Word explores feminism in The Council of Canadians joined all its incarnations. From the dub the rabble podcast network this poetry of Afua Cooper to femi- year following the struggle of On- nism and politics, to women and tarians to preserve the water ta- the beer industry, rpn listeners ble under proposed dump site 41, heard it in the F Word podcast and followed Chair of the Council, this year. Maude Barlow to the Alberta Tar Sands. Street Cred: Street Cred walked the walk in 2009. This podcast won a men- tion as a top pick in Walrus John Bonnar Audio Blog Magazine when it took its listen- The rabble podcast network inte- ers on an audio tour of Toronto’s grated more closely with the Regent Park, Canada’s most growing group of bloggers and densely populated housing pro- commentators at rabble.ca when ject. Street Cred also spent time John Bonnar started producing with a nurse returning from audio as he followed environ- earthquake-devastated Haiti, mental protestors, spoke with and talked transit with the driver professors about social justice of the 506 streetcar in Toronto. issues, and spoke out on Can- ada’s most pressing social and Maker Culture: environmental justice issues. Students at Western University explored all the ways we can Speak!: make our own stuff in this mul- The Ryerson chapter of Journal- timedia series, which is sure to ists for Human Rights signed on continue building momentum in with the rabble podcast network 2010. They talked edupunk, de- in 2009, telling stories about sign, social media and all forms women’s rights through the of making it. The podcast was years, cut to the chase with To- part of a larger project including ronto Film Festival organizers text, video and audio. The series about the importance of film to is ongoing. human rights and explored the reason hunger is the great hu- Aw@l: man rights issue of our times. Anti-war at Laurier was on the front lines in 2009. The podcast The Roaming Ear: was on the Gardiner expressway Award-winning radio producer when Tamil protesters blocked and audio expert Victoria Fenner the thoroughfare; it attended became part of the rpn this year. Olympic protest organizing She studies sounds around the meetings and caught up with world and brings her perspective controversial speakers at the as a journalist, traveller, and re- Congress of the Humanities, all cordist to the inquisitive ears of in the name of peace. rpn listeners.

rabble.ca annual report 22 rabble news comes to you!

People don't just go to new sites like rabble.ca for their news, they want the news to come to them. rabble.ca is no exception.

For years rabble has offered a free weekly e-newsletter with summaries and links to key stories, columns, blogs, podcasts, babble discussions, video and key events from our "what's up" calendar. In 2009, we introduced an additional daily version that sends out our editor’s top picks of the day, delivering them straight to your in- box! Sign up right now!

rabble is also a newsfeed source around the web and we have an rss feed that can be found on newsreaders like google's news reader, My Yahoo, Newsgator, and Blo- glines. Subscribe right now!

And if you are on the move you can get rabble feeds on mobile devices — open your phone's browser and go to http://go.feedm8.com/gmndgj. In 2010, be sure to watch for our iPhone and iPad app!

rabble.ca can also be found on twitter at http://twitter.com/rabble.ca and on Face- book and flickr.

In 2010, rabble will be launching an iPhone application. In other words if your look- ing for us, we'll be there!

rabble.ca annual report 23 rabble continued to pilot our "issue" pages in 2009 after experimenting with a special "coali- tion" section in 2008. These pages are theme-based aggregates of rabble columns, blogs, video and podcasts, as well as news links and feeds from other news sources on specific is- sues. Issue pages are a "one-stop-shop" for visitors to follow the news on an important issue, as well as to contribute content via discussions, photos and more.

We created a few issue pages as special features, which are below, but in 2010 rabble will be launching a number of issue pages on a wide range of topics including labour, Afghanistan, arts & culture, economy, feminism, indigenous, LGBTI, the Olympics and more.

Gaza on rabble.ca Our main issue page in 2009 was our page on Gaza. 2009 started with nearly a month of Is- raeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, killing over 1300 Palestinians, injuring thousands more and worsening an already dire humanitarian crisis. rabble.ca created the Gaza issues page to bring readers the best in alternative analysis of the ongoing siege of Gaza. rabble's coverage of the crises in Gaza in 2009 included first-hand reporting from rabble pub- lisher Kim Elliott who travelled with Code Pink on a humanitarian mission to Gaza.

rabble.ca annual report 24 Special Features

Like with issue pages, these special feature sections aggregate all of rabble content on a subject and also include newsfeeds and relevant links.

U.S Health Care rabble weighed in on the U.S health care de- bate, encouraging Canadians to send in testi- monials about the public system in Canada and to clear up some myths that were being tossed around in the U.S. American activist groups for single-payer linked to this health care page and a Canadian health care page is planned for 2010. We wrote:

Dear American Neighbor's Canadians have been watching and reading about your national debate over how to reform your health care system. Normally, of course, we would not at- tempt to intervene or influence you. But Cana- dians are shocked that their health-care system — called Medicare — has been used to frighten Americans. Some of what has been said about our Medicare system are outright falsehoods — like the claim that we can't choose our own doctors or that government "bureaucrats" can deny us needed treatment.

We want you to know the truth so that when you make up your mind it will be on the ba- sis of facts, not falsehoods. This page has testimonials from ordinary Canadians, from health professionals, links to websites explaining our Medicare and links to campaigns in your own country fighting for reform.

Who RU? Beginning in 2008 as a project of the Online Journalism Class at the University of Western Ontario, this issues page examined how tech- nology changes identity and the idea of iden- tity. The series completed in 2009. Each epi- sode contained a podcast on the rabble pod- cast network, a video clip on rabbletv and rabble's You Tube channel and a feature story on rabble.ca.

rabble.ca annual report 25 WHAT'S UP? rabble.caʼs free Canada-wide community calendar

From coast to coast to coast and everywhere in between, rabble is your source for social jus- tice and art events through our What's Up community calendar. What's Up listings are free and can be sorted by city, date and can be added to iCalendar. Plus, like with other features of rabble, you can get an rss feed to keep your social calendar up to date.

rabble.ca annual report 26 A flyer we used at the Word on The Street book event to promote What’s up

rabble.ca annual report 27 Behind the curtain: who made this section happen?

Staff: Alex Samur

Interns: Allendria Brunjes and Samantha Power

Reviewers:

• Aaron Leonard: The Idea of Communism • Bart Campbell: The Globalization of Ad- diction • Ben Hart: Butcher's Block • Cara Ng: Bodies • Charles Demers: The Man Game • Dave Koch: Fight Back • Dave Markland: The Black Book of Ca- nadian Foreign Policy • Donna Barker: Thrifty, Slow Death by Rubber Duck • Joan Baxter: Dead Aid: Why Aid is not The book lounge — a fresh attitude, that brings you Working the books you want to read about. With an emphasis • Jordan Brennan: Capital as Power: A Study of Order and Creorder on the fantastic work coming out of Canada's small • Jennifer Moreau: The Johns, Sex for presses — reviewed from perspectives you don't read Sale and the Men Who Buy It every day — book lounge reviews range from the • Jessica Rose Purity Myth: How America's short and punchy, giving you a glimpse of what's be- Obsession With Virginity is Hurting tween the covers, to in-depth featured reviews that Young Women; and My Life as a Dame: The Personal and the Political in the engage with the ideas on offer so you can too. Top- Writings of Christina McCall notch books, top-notch writers, top-notch thinking. • Katie O'Connor: One Big Happy Family, Rhetoric for Radicals: A Handbook for In 2009, the book lounge expanded when we Twenty-First Century Activists launched a new blog called Bound But Not Gagged to • Kellee Ngan: Lessons from the Fat-o- provide readers with books-related news. We also sphere • Laurel Smith: The Kremlin Betrayal experimented using video with the blog when we in- • Mel Watkins: Defiant Publics: The Un- cluded video coverage of the Toronto launch of She's precedented Reach of the Global Citizen Shameless: Women write about growing up, rocking • Melissa Fong: Paradise Lost at Sea out and fighting back and we introduced a new • Niranjana Iyer: The Fourth Canvas Vancouver-based books columnist, George Fether- • Peter Conlin: decentre: concerning artist-run culture ling. • Philippa Mennell: I Live Here, Hope in Shadows: Stories and Photographs rabble.ca also was the first to break the story of Amy of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, Goodman's detainment by Canadian Border Services Street Stories: 100 Years of Homeless- on her way to launch her new book Breaking the ness in Vancouver Sound Barrier. The story was picked up by Democ- • Rahat Kurd: Palestinian Walks: Forays into a Vanishing Landscape racy Now and the story went viral after we first pub- • Samantha Power: Green Oil lished it on rabble. • Shane Patrick Murphy: Overqualified • Sheryda Warrener: Caribbean Blues & Amy Goodman's talk also appeared on an episode of Love's Genealogy and Unisex Love Po- our podcast radio book lounge, where listeners can ems and pH6: A Book of Haiku Moods Tara Quinn: Extraordinary Canadians: find author interviews, readings, audio reviews, and • Norman Bethune story-casts for kids and grown-ups.

rabble.ca annual report 28 And rabble staff organized the book launch for Chris Shaw's Five Ring Circus in Vancouver in April 2009.

The book lounge published twenty-five original reviews and featured seven exclusive author interviews (David and Re- becca Solnit, Sheema Khan, Denise Chong, Don Tapscott, Rachel Epstein, Myrna Kostash, Joseph Heath.)

Our amazing interns each produced ex- clusive author interviews for radio book lounge. Allendria Brunjes interviewed Canadian novelist Shani Mootoo. Allen- dria helped launch the book lounge blog, Bound But Not Gagged.

Samantha Power interviewed activist organizers David and Rebecca Solnit and authors The Battle of the Story of the Battle in Seattle. rabble staff member Meagan Perry also contributed to radio book lounge. She did exclusive interviews with Rachel Epstein and Denise Chong.

2009 rabble editor Derrick O'Keefe contributed to the Bound But Not Gagged books blog.

Derrick O’Keefe and Chris Shaw

rabble.ca annual report 29 Some of our greatest hits – popular book reviews from 2009

January: Christina McCall: 'Feminist in arms' August: Five Obvious Food Facts Reviewed by Jessica Rose Reviewed by George Fetherling Though journalist Christina McCall may best Bacon, A Love Story and Squeezed: What You be remembered for her in-depth coverage of Don't Know about Orange Juice are just two the Liberal Party, she also covered issues of from a growing list of titles all about food. urban planning, Canadian nationalism, and of Read on for notable highlights of this increas- course, feminism. ingly popular genre. February: Eating Words September: Theory of Capital Makes a Reviewed by Ben Hart Comeback Deanna Fong's first collection of poetry reads Reviewed by Jordan Brennan like a delicately prepared menu. Fong offers In Capital As Power an attack is launched on three courses — From Skins to Bones, Explo- theories of capitalism by focusing on one of ration and Hearts. the oldest conundrums in the discipline of po- March: Who Killed Stalin litical economy -- the theory of capital. Reviewed by Laurel Smith October: Out of Body The Kremlin Betrayal is a fictionalized account Reviewed by Cara Ng of post-WWII spying shenanigans, which cen- In her recent book, Bodies, Susie Orbach ex- tres upon Stalin's assassination and the So- amines body despair in the Western world, viet leader's obsession with rewriting history. and how our bodies are "made" through the April: Global Dissent Heats Up brain's interaction with personal experiences Reviewed by Mel Watkins and our environments. Defiant Publics describes an information revo- The Ties That Bind lution permitting new forms of transnational Reviewed by Katie O’Connor communication creating global consciousness Polyamory, open adoption, mixed marriage, in the wake of the global financial crisis. house husbandry, single motherhood — 18 May: Cutting the Crap authors tackle what it means to be a family in Reviewed by Katie O'Connor the 21st century. Rhetoric for radicals sets out guidelines for November: Remembering Communism the ardent activist — establishing the need Reviewed by Aaron Leonard for clearer communication in achieving social Marx and Engels had no idea what they were change. setting loose when they wrote The Commu- June: Cruise Ship Blues nist Manifesto — and they would be the first Reviewed by Melissa Fong to admit it. That's the sense you get reading Tariq Ali's new book. If you're contemplating a cruise vacation this summer think again — Paradise Lost at Sea Norman Bethune: Stepping Forward to Revo- exposes the not-so-glamorous realities of lution cruise vacations. Reviewed by Tara Quinn The image of Norman Bethune sketched by July: Seven Killer Chemicals Adrienne Clarkson in this contribution to the Reviewed by Donna Barker Extraordinary Canadians series invokes dual- Are you a toxic time bomb? The authors of ity: the guerrilla doctor and the humanist. Slow Death by Rubber Duck investigate how December: Thrifty: Living the Frugal Life- common chemicals impact our bodies and of- fer ways to avoid them. style Reviewed by Donna Barker Thrifty offers encouraging, entertaining and eclectic ways to live a frugal life with style.

rabble.ca annual report 30 BABBLE

Behind the curtain: who made this section happen?

Staff: Michelle Langlois Frank Preyde

Volunteer moderator Maysie

The Internet world is teeming now with ways for people to interact with content. At rabble.ca we have invited comment and promoted discussion from day one through babble – our mod- erated discussion board. In 2009, we almost reached our 20,000 person registered for babble and we have hosted thousands of threads on countless topics.

Everyday new conversations get started and important issues get examined. Things always heat up around election time, but there is plenty of action all the time at babble. In 2009, rabble hosted two social gatherings for babblers, getting people out from behind their com- puters to debate and discuss old school.

A small babble sampling from 2009:

Parliament to Prorogie again? George Galloway barred from entering Canada for anti-war views Honduras: I tawt I taw a coup d'état Honduras: I did! I taw a coup d'état Canada Complicit In torture The Afghan people will win part 12 The Conflict of Sri Lanka and Tamil Eelam in the island of Ceylon Why the NDP Has to Move Left. . . (within reason) Is There a Grand Unifying Issue?

rabble.ca annual report 31 membership community supported media Like community radio and tv, community Internet news sites depend on members to help meet their budget.

At rabble.ca, we hold an annual member- ship drive to recruit members (starting at $5/month).

In 2009 rabble con- tinued our partner- ship with independent print magazines from Canada and the U.S All members receive a magazine subscription as a thank-you gift from rabble.ca rabble finished 2009 with over 600 members contributing between $5 and $50 a month. We also held our annual donation drive for those that one to support us with a one-time donation. rabble.ca offers a prize draw for the donation drive. Thank you to everyone who donated to rabble.ca, with a special recognition to John DiSte- fano.

In 2008 and early 2009, rabble.ca worked with the Volunteer Con- sulting Group, who "provides pro-bono consulting to community- based organizations. They match top University students with local non-profits to solve problems in the areas of marketing, fundraising, finances, organizational structure and human resource management."

A team of graduate and undergraduate students — Fon Arunpairo- jana, Ines Fernandez, David Kideckel, Shareen Pathak, Daniela Miao, and Madhavi Mangu — performed market analysis on rabble's membership campaign and produced a report for the rabble.ca board on opportunities to improve the membership drive. rabble.ca also received membership assistance on messaging and marketing from Lindsay Irvine of Humber College as part of her studies in fundraising.

2009 partner magazines: Alternatives journal, The Beaver Magazine, Briarpatch,Broken Pen- cil, Canadian Dimension, Corporate Knights, The Dominion, Fuse Magazine, Herizons, Middle East Report, Mother Jones (e- subscription), Out Times, Ricepaper, This Magazine,Watershed Sen- tinel, Yes! Magazine, The New Internationalist. rabble.ca annual report 32 [email protected] Looking for the most visited alternative online news source in Canada?

Welcome to rabble.ca.

In 2009, rabble's advertising abilities got even better. rabble.ca can now "geo-tag" ads so they only appear in select areas of the country (or world), allowing for local issue advertising. This feature has attracted some clients and rabble.ca has been promoting it on rabble and through our social media tools.

As in the past, rabble.ca's advertising space is used not just as a revenue-generating stream but as a service to our Sustaining Partners, our fundraising partners (magazines that donate sub- scriptions to our membership drive) and to those organizations whose events we sponsored.

With rabble's growing number of features, we also promote spe- cific sections of the site through ads, and of course our own prod- ucts.

Want to learn more? See: www.rabble.ca/advertise

rabble.ca annual report 33 At rabble we take a pro-active role in spreading the word about rabble through marketing on Facebook, twitter, mobile news feeds, sponsoring events, tabling at M events, conference presentations, advertising, membership in media organizations and more.

Media sponsorships rabble.ca sponsors events with civil society groups, activist organizations, unions a and others as a way to promote issues and to promote rabble.ca. We offer expo- s u r e o n o u r w e b s i t e through advertising and in our e-newsletters and in turn rabble.ca is listed r and promoted as an event sponsor.

rabble sponsored a number of events in 2009 including:

. A seminar by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Coalition k Government: A Transatlantic Dialogue

. Burning passions theatre production of "CANDIDA" by George Bernard Shaw

. Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts (Toronto)

e . Open-Internet town hall meetings (Save Our Net) in Ottawa, Toronto,Vancouver

. Council of Canadians, annual general meeting t . Film launch of rewire . Canadian Labour International Film Festival (CLIFF) i . No One Is Illegal benefit concert with Lal . Bikes for Africa, Bikes Without Borders Toronto

. Good Jobs For All rally and march, Toronto n . Theatre production of Stuff Happens . Media Democracy Day, Vancouver

. The film tour of You, Me & the SPP g . Congress of the humanities and social sciences

rabble.ca annual report 34 Memberships Over the past four years, rabble.ca has been a member of the US Progressive Media Consortium. The Media Consortium is a network of leading progressive independent M journalism organizations, who work to “amplify our voices; increase our collective clout; leverage our current audience and reach out to new ones; transform our sec- tor’s position in a rapidly changing media and politi- cal environment; and rede- fine ourselves and progres- a sivism for a new century.” rabble is an active member with the Consortium which focus on mutual cooperation and learning experiences in building infrastructures, increasing revenue generating opportunities and amplifying r the voices of progressive media. The US consortium is largely foundation funded, and has been an important learning and sharing experience. rabble.ca is also a founding member of the Canadian Independent On-Line Media Alli- ance. The Alliance brings together canadian online independent media for the pur- poses of discussing possible editorial, technical and revenue generating collabora- k tions. The Alliance has pooled resources and obtained a collective discount for the email serving program “What Counts” and have shared infrastructure development, ad swaps and are exploring other the potential for other forms of cooperation. rabble is also an active member of the steering committee of Campaign for Demo- cratic Media (CDM): “A diverse array of groups and individuals across Canada are e building a new organization to support the development of a truly democratic media system. The Campaign for Democratic Media is a network-structured, education- and campaign- oriented, movement-building, national, non-profit and non-partisan media reform organization. We are primarily interested in helping to create the conditions for diverse, accountable and quality Canadian media to thrive.” The CDM’s work in- t cluded “Save Our Net” to oppose a “gatekeeper” network proposed by some corpora- tions to control traffic on the Internet. The CDM is active in Media Democracy Day. rabble.ca is also a member of the Association of Magazine Publish- ers (BCAMP). BCAMP “represents, connects and promotes the BC magazine industry by uniting the talent, knowledge and skills of its publishers. BC magazines foster i award-winning talent and represent some of the best periodicals published in Canada. BCAMP membership is made up of more than 80 titles, in- cluding arts and culture, news, business, lifestyle, leisure and n special interest magazines.” g

rabble.ca annual report 35 Conferences M rabble staff and board are in demand to present and participate in conferences. Some conferences that rabble participated in and/or presented at:

rabble board member Wayne MacPhail at- a tend MESH 09, LabourTech Toronto and Podcamp Toronto

rabble staffer Alex Samur presented at the SFU Summer School of Publishing on a r panel on Web Content Management for Publishers

rabble podcast network executive producer Meagan Perry presented an overview of podcasting and social media at the Yukon Federation of Labour conference “Stand Up Yukon” on political action in k April of 2009.

Publisher Kim Elliott went to Journalism That Matters and the the Personal Democracy Forum. e t i n g

rabble.ca annual report 36 Information tables: We spread the word about our work at conferences and meetings and in 2009 we tabled at a number of events including: M

. The Word On The Street Toronto . Ontario Federation of Labour Convention . The Congress of the Humanities, Ottawa . Car Free Sunday, Vancouver . Media Democracy Day, Vancouver a . Fresh Media, Vancouver e-newsletter r In 2009, we expanded our popular e-newsletter from just a weekly summary of news highlights by adding a daily option that showcases our "top picks" of the day. Both contain links and summaries to all our features with our weekly news- letter featuring contests and giveaways. We keep in touch with over thousands of rabble readers. k

Promotional Exchanges and Giveaways Readers of our email newsletter get the most opportunities to win cool stuff like books, show tickets and music CDs. Music CDs are often artists that are featured in our rabbletv feature Indie Inside. e As a sample, our giveaways in 2009 included: . Ten double passes for Atom Egoyan's film Adoration in Vancouver . Tickets for hot docs premier of the film Rachael . Tickets for the documentary Oblivion at the Vancouver International Film Fes- t tival. . Tickets for Velcro Ripper's film Fierce Light: When Spirit Meets Action . Jessica Valenti's book: The Purity Myth: How America's Obsession with Virgin- ity Is Hurting Young Women. i . A copy of Who's Your Daddy edited by Rachel Epstein . CDs by Bob Wiseman, Laura Barrett, Robbie Tucker and the Dangerous Cray- ons, Digging Roots, Dan Mangan . Tickets to Candida at the Toronto Fringe Festival, Shaw in the City, Toronto. n

Candida was a great show, and only subscribers to our weekly e-newsletter could win tickets to see it (and many other fantastic prizes). g

rabble.ca annual report 37 Financial reflections

The total operating budget for rabble in 2009 was $209,000.

This increase in budget over 2008 is attributed to new sustaining partners. rabble continued to rely heavily on sustaining partner funding, accounting for about 68% of the budget. Mem- bership support accounting for 16% of the annual budget, donations 10% and advertising sales accounting for only 5%.

Income

Advertising

Donations

Membership

In Cahoots partners Sustaining partner income

Expenses distribution

Tech

Editorial

Fundraising & Admin

81% of rabble’s expenses are staffing and contributors costs. Within that staffing expense, 55% is attributed to editorial costs, 30% to Fundraising and Administration and 15% to Tech- nical support.

rabble.ca annual report 38 Measuring website traffic

rabble uses AW Stats and Google Analytics to measure website traffic. While the programs measure different variables (log files vs javascript), together they provide a helpful view of traffic trends.

Most interesting over the past year, both analytics programs have been increasing the robust- ness of their measurements. In particular, AWStats’ metrics improved to reduce the presence of non-human driven traffic on the site (search bots, etc). As a result the real numbers in AW Stats reports are reduced from previous years, however the trends continue to reflect a similar story to the measures provided in Google Analytics.

Google Analytics indicates that rabble had an average of 171,000 visits per month in 2009 with an average of 123,000 unique visitors per month, and about 6 million page views per month.

What is the difference between unique visitors and visits? In simple terms, unique visitors re- fer to the number of IP addresses, or individual computers, that visited the site over a period of time. The number of visits1 represents the number of individual sessions initiated by all the visitors. From a Google Analytics standpoint, visits are the most basic measure of how effec- tively a site is performing.

According to Google Analytics in 2009 there was a 16% increase in the number of visits and a 26% increase in the number of unique visitors, compared to the year before.

Notably, bandwidth nearly doubled in 2009 compared to 2008, this is in part due to increase in the number and downloads of podcasts.

The average time spent on the site in 2009 was 4.46 minutes per visit.

The above graphic, drawn from AW Stats, is an indication of the traffic trends over the seasons of 2009.

1 Visits represent the number of individual sessions initiated by all the visitors to your site. If a user is inactive on your site for 30 minutes or more, any future activity will be attributed to a new session. Users that leave your site and return within 30 minutes will be counted as part of the original session. The initial session by a user during any given date range is considered to be an additional visit and an addi- tional visitor. Any future sessions from the same user during the selected time period are counted as addi- tional visits, but not as additional visitors.

rabble.ca annual report 39 Measuring website traffic

In 2009 rabble.ca had 2,048,539 visits from 226 countries/territories. 76% of traffic to the site came from Canada, and 15% from the US.

The above graphics indicate the primary methods by which people come to rabble.ca. 34% of traffic comes directly to the site, while the remainder comes from referring sites and search engines. rabble’s top referrer in 2009 was Google, with Facebook in close second, Bing was seventh, and Twitter ninth.

rabble.ca annual report 40 Staff Kim Elliott, Publisher p e o p l e a t Derrick O’Keefe, Editor (until winter 09) Murray Dobbin, Guest Senior Contributing Editor Alex Samur, Assistant Editor, Book Review Editor Wayne McPhail, Director Emerging Media rabble Meagan Perry, rpn Executive Producer Tor Sandberg, rabbletv producer rabble operates with a small part-time Matthew Adams, Program and Special Projects Coordinator staff and volunteer staff, and our work is Laurel Smith, Administration and Membership supported by interns, volunteers and a Coordinator volunteer board of directors. Jenn Watt, in cahoots Editor Michelle Langlois, babble co-moderator You can read biographies on key Frank Preyde, babble co-moderator people at rabble at: Michelle Gregus, babble moderator www.rabble.ca/about/bios Jessica Rose, babble moderator and Facebook administrator There is no central office to rabble - we The Anarres Worker Co-op, Technological support are a virtual organization with staff lo- cated around the country. In 2009, we had editorial staff in British Columbia, in Ontario and in the Yukon. We have col- umnists, bloggers, podcasters and video regular volunteers & advisors makers coast to coast and beyond the Roz Allen Eric Piché Canadian borders. Steve Anderson Melanie Redman Lou Arab Johanna Robertshaw rabble is a member of the Centre for Cathi Bond Corvin Russell Social Innovation in Toronto, where we Dawn Buie Phillip Smith have access to work and meeting space Chris Cavanagh Steve Stunell and can connect with other progressive Adam Clare Mark Surman organizations and businesses. Nick Filmore Tonya Surman Sharon Fraser Steve Thompson Yumi Hotta Jeffrey Vicq Board Interns Brian Iller Bill Wittur Diana Bronson Alexandra Anita Kranjc Jean Wolff Duncan Cameron MacAulay Abdelwahab May Lui Yee-Guan Wong Michael Goodman Allendria Brunjes Jude MacDonald Ellen Woodsworth Dave Lundy Adriana Byrne Greg Macdougall Nina Wyndham Wayne MacPhail Ci-Ci Fan, David Mackenzie Diane Touchette Ronak Ghorbani John MacLellan John Urquhart Kristen Hanson Sally Miller J.M Henderson Advisory Ryan Hayes Guest Editors Thanks to: Committee Mara Kardas-Nelson David Oswald Mitchell Centre for Social Innovation Samantha Power Livestream.com Lynn Coady Lisa Mansfield Spreed.inc Linda McQuaig Sachin Seth Stephen Dale Dave Mitchell Ryan Wallis May Lui Sharon Fraser John Urquhart Fred Wilson

rabble.ca annual report 41 rabble by the numbers 2009

# of feature contributors 262

# of podcasts uploaded 680

# of podcast shows 32

# of new podcast shows 8

# of posts on babble by 2009 way over 150,000

# of videos uploaded to rabbletv 260

# of sustaining partners 15

# of writers published on rabble in 2009

# of blogs on rabble 2009 62

# of in cahoots members 59

# of artists featured in indie inside 25

# of members 600+ (we need more!)

# of part-time staff, interns, and volunteers for rabble in 2009 72

# of visits to rabble in 2009 2,048,539

# of countries/territories visitors came from 226

#of page views on average per month 6,000,000

# of prorogues 2009 1 (none by rabble.ca!)

rabble.ca annual report 42 Appendix A: rpn shows 2009

Asia Pacific Currents F Word News from Asia Pacific region Explores varied aspects of with a labour and grassroots feminism through discussion perspective and interviews

Alert Radio Green Planet Monitor Weekly Canadian news and In Asia, Africa, Latin American current affairs not heard on people use local knowledge to mainstream radio solve problems -stories /news

Alternatives Journal House of Sound and Fury Canada’s informed voice of Arts in community building environmentalism and cultural vitality

Aw@L I Read the News Today Peace and social justice (oh boy!) discussions from campus radio News and views on politics in waterloo Canada, the U.S. and beyond

Boiling Frog John Bonnar Audio Blog Exploration of off grid activist Independent journalist with friendly living social justice stories in and around Toronto Ontario

Council of Canadians Labour Show Stories, issues, news from the An up close and personal look Council at the labour movement today

rabble.ca annual report 43 Living On Purpose Radio Tadamon! Ideas, music and talk in a Media activists and social jus- spirit of health and well being tice organizers reporting from Lebanon

Red Eye Needs No Introduction On the political social and A series of speeches and cultural issues of the day lectures from some of the finest minds

Pivot Legal Society Reel Women Law reform, legal education Judy Rebick and Cathi Bond and strategic legal action dive into the DVDs

Podcast DYI Speak! Tips and tools on creating Peace and human rights - your own podcast produced by Journalists for human rights at Ryerson U.

Prosecast Stark Raven Cathi Bond talks to Harper A critical look at incarceration Collins Canada authors about and criminalization in Canada their latest work and around the world

Street Cred rabble radio Interviews, reports, docs from Our own mix of politics, a journalistic year of scream- music , art and more! ing dangerously

The Dispatch radio book lounge Briarpatch magazine with Author readings, interviews, essays, interviews, book reviews, storycasts music,spoken word, satire and more!

rabble.ca annual report 44 The Dominion News from the grassroots

The Reason by UWO Journalism Students

The Roaming Ear Victoria Fenner travels around the world with a mike making docs, audio poems, portraits

The ruckus An exploration of Canadian music: from prairie folk, to hip-hop, to alt rock

The Speakeasy Smart perspectives on stories both familiar and unheard of

Who RU? An exploration of identity on the edge of tech

Who’s on Second? Interviews and stories about Second Life

rabble.ca annual report 45 Sign up for our FREE news summary: www.rabble.ca/alerts How can you keep rabble.ca going and growing?

. Become an individual rabble member for $5/month by visiting www.rabble.ca/membership. rabble depends on memberships to survive and thrive. We offer great thank-you gifts for all members. Of course, we also accept donations. See https://secure.rabble.ca/supportrabble.

. Have your organization join in cahoots — our sponsored portal of news from civil society groups in Canada. See: http://www.rabble.ca/incahoots Contact [email protected]

. Have your organization become a Sustaining Partner. Sustaining Partners provide financial support to rabble and receive a fantastic advertising package and promotion from rabble. Contact [email protected]

. Advertise on rabble.ca. rabble is Canada’s largest independent online news site. Contact [email protected]

. Tell us your news, share a story! If you have news or a story let us know! Contact [email protected]

. Spread the word and tell your friends, colleagues and networks about rabble and encourage them to visit. You can email articles with a touch of button.

. Join our Facebook page

. Follow us on Twitter A special thank you to our sustaining partners

rabble.ca annual report 46 rabble.ca annual report 47