From the Editor: How you will receive news from The Runner
The Online News Act was approved in June by the Government of Canada and The Runner is finding ways to share news online with the KPU community. (File photo)
Over the last few weeks, you may have noticed something different when scrolling through Instagram and Facebook, or even doing a quick Google search.
Many users across these platforms will soon or already have lost access to viewing Canadian news through social media.
The Government of Canada passed The Online News Act on June 21, which aims to regulate digital platforms as a middle ground in Canada’s news media to increase fairness. Also known as Bill C-18, the act calls for tech companies to pay for displaying Canadian news on their platforms.
In response to the new legislation, Meta and Google said they have begun the process of removing news from their sites and apps. With The Online News Act in place, it creates many barriers for Canadians and students to access local news from what is happening in their community to Kwantlen Polytechnic University campuses.
At The Runner, we have created new ways for the KPU community to still access their campus news online.
In this issue, Vol. 15.20, you will find a QR code on the Table of Contents page, providing direct access to The Runner’s website at runnermag.ca. This will be displayed in every physical issue so our readers can stay up to date with our daily articles. To keep a link of our website, be sure to bookmark it which will create a tab for easy access.
Additionally, we will be sending out a bi-weekly newsletter beginning in September. The newsletter will feature the top stories from the past two weeks, ranging from events happening on-campus to the latest local news that matters most to students.
We have been in discussions with KPU Announcements to possibly send the newsletter out to all students once or twice a month. We are also working towards adding a section to our website where those interested in signing up for The Runner’s newsletter can do so by clicking “Subscribe” and typing in their preferred email.
Although we may not be on Instagram or Facebook for the foreseeable future, students will still be able to find us on Twitter, @runnermag, where we post daily. In addition to Twitter, we will be bringing video stories back to The Runner. We will be posting videos on our YouTube, which is connected to our website, and have created a TikTok account with our handle @runnermag.
If you prefer reading a paper copy of The Runner, they will still hit stands every other Tuesday starting in September.
It is disheartening that student newspapers are affected by The Online News Act. It is important KPU students can easily access news about events or changes happening on-campus, with the Kwantlen Student Association, or throughout the Lower Mainland to not only stay up to date on what is going on in your community, but also who to vote into positions of power.
Social media is a strong tool to share news, especially for students, and having part of that taken away removes knowledge from the public and impairs democracy. It’s important to us that we keep you updated with the latest news and find different ways to navigate that.
Although we have come up with some ways to work around The Online News Act, we are still looking for more ways to connect with students on or off campus. If you have any ideas that you’d think would spread more awareness of our paper online, email editor@runnermag.ca and we’d be happy to listen.
