New local media outlets crop up as traditional community papers close
TORONTO — Dave Bidini asks “what if” a lot.
As in, what if the mainstream press didn’t care about George Clooney building a house on Lake Cuomo? Maybe, just maybe, he says as he sprinkles in a few profanities, communities would be better off.
Next month, the prolific musician, author and general man-about-Toronto, will be trudging door to door delivering his most recent creation: a 20-page broadsheet newspaper called the West End Phoenix. It will be a community rag, served without advertisements every month or so, with a focus on a few west-end neighbourhoods.
“We used to have a whack of really, really great community papers, but they’re all glorified flyer-mobiles now,” Bidini says, his voice rising.