...
The days of cannabis journalism dominated by pothead stories on how to roll joints and profiles of cannabis-loving rappers are making way for a new kind of reportage in Canada: business journalism mixed with deep peerings into the wider culture of cannabis.
Many legacy Canadian newspapers are taking cannabis reporting so seriously in the newly legalized landscape they have devoted entire sections to the sector. For example, the Winnipeg Free-Press launched The Leaf in 2018, where Solomon Israel writes up to four articles a week.
The Globe & Mail and the National Post also launched their own separate sections focusing on cannabis, often readable behind a paywall.
“Business concerns continue to drive the cannabis story in Canada,” says Israel in an interview. “But a reporter can also look at how the business aspect affects how people use cannabis.”
Coverage in his recent collection of articles range from educational to hard news to advice columns, with headlines such as “Are recreational cannabis lounges in Canada's future?” and “Legal weed shortages become a blame game.”
The Leaf also looks at the culture of cannabis via its advice column, which can help cannabis users answer questions on whether cannabis makes someone more creative.
Israel says the cold truth of today’s cannabis journalism is that “before legalization, there were many predictions of what might happen, but now we’ve hit the reset button, and everyone is trying to figure out what’s going on with things such as supply shortages. And some companies are less willing to talk to reporters than they were before legalization.”
Many other Canadian journalists have planted their flag into the cannabis sector, such as Vice’s Manisha Krishnan, West Coast freelance writer Amanda Siebert, The Georgia Straight’s Piper Courtenay and The Financial Post’s Vanmala Subramaniam.And earlier this year, The Toronto Star deployed 10 reporters to compile a comprehensive coast-to-coast guide to Canada’s cannabis laws.
In an interview, Subramaniam says she’s drawn to the cannabis space because “it’s such a nascent industry and now we’re really seeing if these licensed producers are robust enough to justify their valuations.”
Who you write for often matters, in terms of securing the quotes needed to flesh out a cannabis story. When Subramaniam covered cannabis during her time at Vice, she didn’t garner the same kind of contacts as she does now working for a Postmedia brand. “I’m getting more Bay St. sources than before, due to the perception of my paper as a credible outlet,” she notes. Her assessment makes sense, considering how cannabis journalism used to be replete with outlets such as High Times, Cannabis Culture and little else.
If Subramaniam could prescribe a solution to some of cannabis journalism’s woes, she’d like to see reporters steering away from writing on every bit of news coming down the press-release pipeline. “Reporters need to ask themselves ‘Why would my audience care about this story right now? Should I really report on this merger between this tiny company and this tiny company?’”
What Israel would like to see discontinued is the overuse of cannabis puns in headlines and sub-heads. “From ‘up in smoke’ to anything associated with the word ‘hazy’, that kind of writing seems to reflect the old idea that anything on cannabis is comedic or fun. But puns really don’t do it for me.”
This article is now marked as read.
Review this article to help us continue creating and sharing relevant content.
Please note it may take up to two business days for reviews to be validated and published.
Review this article to help us continue creating and sharing relevant content.
Smoking a joint on a Winnipeg street will be very different than doing the same on Toronto’s Spadina Avenue. One is illegal while the other is not, according to the varied provincial laws on public consumption. Understandably, it can be confusing, bu...
While it may be simpler for Canada to launch a nation-wide policy on consuming and growing cannabis, the reality is much more complicated. Every province dictated how it would manage the Cannabis Act within their borders, from the minimum age to buy...
Few cannabis industry influencers have a resume as impressive as Deepak Anand. An active speaker, Anand sits on the board of Canadians for Fair Access to Medical Marijuana (CFAMM) and the National Association of Cannabis Professionals. As the vice-pr...
Aliza Sherman has long held a passion for women’s rights, even advocating the cause by extension of her professional successes. In the 90s, she started the first female-owned internet company, Cybergrrl, and went on to develop digital marketing strat...
What is hemp and how does it differ from cannabis? A unique variety of the cannabis sativa species, hemp is one of the planet’s most diverse and far-reaching crops. A non-psychoactive form of cannabis, hemp has little THC content, but its application...
Cannabis legislation has long been characterized by a patchwork of laws in the United States, with some states allowing only medical, and others permitting unbridled recreational use. Hemp may soon be the first real beacon of light from a federal per...
When Cassandra Farrington decided to take on cannabis, she did so with one vision: lend the industry some business wings. Since helping Marijuana Business Daily take flight in 2010, Farrington has watched the platform – formed to help business profes...
Very few market research firms are as laser-focused as Cann Standard, a pricing analytics firm based in Calgary. What director Brad Martin and his two colleagues accomplish is the detail-oriented work of collating the various prices of dried cannabis...
Thanks to recreational cannabis legalization in Canada, 4/20 feels different this year, and it also gives us the opportunity to reflect on what Canada got right and wrong about cannabis recreational use.
Canada’s government has motioned that it will legalize cannabis for recreational purposes. On October 1 of this year, Canada will become the first G7 nation where the adult use of cannabis is permitted for both medical patients and recreational users...
Leslie Best isn’t a prototypical cannabis advocate. In fact, she’s nothing short of the antithesis of a stereotypical stoner – a forty-something suburban mother of three children, and the loving wife of a firefighter and one-time winner of HGTV’s “Ca...
While practically every Canadian knows October 17, 2018, was the date when cannabis is legalized in the country, some confusion is still rippling from Victoria to St. John’s. Questions may include, “What exactly is legal and illegal?” and “Can I actu...
If you're hazy about the promotion of cannabis products in Canada, you’re not alone. Even the most dedicated legal experts in the space admit Health Canada hasn’t been entirely clear about which promotional tactics are allowable, but insiders can agr...
One of the leading human resource professionals in Canadian cannabis, Alison McMahon founded Cannabis at Work with hopes of helping bridge the industry’s education gap. In the three years since she set out with that earnest goal, her role in cannabis...
Marcus Richardson doesn’t pull punches. The first time we met was at a party in the backyard of a mansion in Toronto. He was nestled in the corner unit of an outdoor sectional – the best seat in the house, as far as I could see. When a space opened u...
Emma Chasen has carved out a unique niche in the cannabis industry. A graduate of Brown University, Chasen received a specialized biology degree in medicinal plant research before eschewing naturopathy and jetting across the country to pursue a caree...
There are few places in the world more fitting for a cannabis conference than Niagara Falls. A fast and vibrant city, ensconced by some of the quietest and richest agricultural lands the Canadian countryside has to offer, the natural beauty of Niagar...
For Rebecca Brown, the light-bulb moment came with a guerilla tactic: when she was at the ad agency Entrinsic four years ago, her colleagues drummed up an idea to promote their services to the medical cannabis firms in Ontario. They headed out to tho...
Jay Rosenthal is the professional archetype the cannabis industry once found it hard to attract: educated, intelligent, and insightful. As the co-founder and president of Business of Cannabis, Rosenthal has brought this new space 20 years of experien...
Cannabis is blazing a number of new trails. Across the industry, novel conventions are being set for what cannabis is, and who engages with it. As one of the strongest examples of the progressive nature of the plant and its culture, the cannabis indu...
Please disable your ad blocker to avoid issues using social plugins on Cannvas.Me. Thanks.
Close
Share Article