Read on Twitter
Thread: This is a good story by @etanvlessing in @THR. But I want to get something else off my chest. And this by no means is a diss against Etan, who is a cool dude, but the entire colonial media industry. 1/17 https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/how-canada-is-rethinking-film-financing-amid-a-racial-reckoning-something-has-changed
And I'm speaking especially about Canadian media. Big outlets constantly refuse to link back! Time and time again, my stories would be pilfered by big outlets like @CBCNews and @macleans, and they refuse to throw one little hyperlink or reference back to the original. 2/17
And this is not about me getting credit. This is bigger than that. This is about S! E! O!
That's right folks. Search Engine Optimization!
Now pay attention.
3/17
That's right folks. Search Engine Optimization!
Now pay attention.
3/17
Outlets especially in this market live and die by SEO. Google traffic keeps us alive.
Linking back gives our outlets and stories more cache on Google. They help drive a story up and down and into newsfeeds.
They also help the outlet as a whole gain cache. 4/17
Linking back gives our outlets and stories more cache on Google. They help drive a story up and down and into newsfeeds.
They also help the outlet as a whole gain cache. 4/17
So NOW Magazine is a local paper that does not have the Google cache that the big institutions that mostly hire white people do. Our stories are typically lower on the Google totem pole than a @CBC, @globeandmail or @TorontoStar. 5/17
I'm sure most BIPOC journalists like myself often find themselves working in small outlets or even blogging. So we have to work extra hard to have the best stories that rank on Google. But when a big outlet essentially rewrites that story, they outrank us! 6/17
So the thing with Etan's story is he did his own research and built his own story and isn't obligated to link back to this story. 7/17 https://nowtoronto.com/movies/telefilm-fast-track-success-index
But no one would have known about the behind-the-scenes drama and this entire story, if my sources didn't trust me with that secret letter and the NOW team didn't help me investigate it, verify it and make the story foolproof. We spent so many man hours on this. 8/17
Those rich producers didn't just hand us the inciting letter after all and say, "hey, this is what we wrote."
In a move that is uncharacteristic of this industry @HertzBarry did his own research and still had the courtesy to link back to our story! 9/17 https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/article-necessary-and-urgent-canadian-film-funding-debate-intensifies-as/
In a move that is uncharacteristic of this industry @HertzBarry did his own research and still had the courtesy to link back to our story! 9/17 https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/article-necessary-and-urgent-canadian-film-funding-debate-intensifies-as/
But this problem is not at all new to me.
@CBC practically has a policy to not refer back.
Like the time Elle-Maija Tailfeathers hooked me up with this story, and it went viral. 10/17 https://nowtoronto.com/movies/news-features/disney-frozen-2-indigenous-culture-sami
@CBC practically has a policy to not refer back.
Like the time Elle-Maija Tailfeathers hooked me up with this story, and it went viral. 10/17 https://nowtoronto.com/movies/news-features/disney-frozen-2-indigenous-culture-sami
And so they wrote this a few days later, re-reporting the same story by contacting the same sources. And because they did that, they were not obligated to link back.
Imagine your tax dollars being spent on lifting your material. 11/17 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/frozen-2-consultation-sami-1.5370801
Imagine your tax dollars being spent on lifting your material. 11/17 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/frozen-2-consultation-sami-1.5370801
Remember our cover story on Alias Grace. 12/17 https://nowtoronto.com/movies/tiff2018/alias-grace-tv-adaptation-premieres-cbc
And the conversation I had with @realsarahpolley about sexual abuse in the film industry before the Weinstein allegations dropped. 13/17 https://nowtoronto.com/movies/tiff2018/sarah-polley-sexism-and-abuse-in-tv-and-film-gender-parity
An interviewer for @macleans and @Chatelaine pretty much quotes those stories. She heard Sarah say this and that. No reference. No link back. As if Sarah spoke to nobody. Well in this industry, that nobody is us. 14/17
https://www.macleans.ca/culture/television/sarah-polley-now-is-not-a-time-for-women-to-keep-quiet/
https://www.macleans.ca/culture/television/sarah-polley-now-is-not-a-time-for-women-to-keep-quiet/
And radio programs do the same thing. "You said so and so" but they never no reference to where. That's just poor etiquette. Doesn't really affect SEO though.
And the SEO thing is critical! 15/17
And the SEO thing is critical! 15/17
These big outlets will feed off our labour and then because they can't even do the courtesy of acknowledging their resources. They keep us down on SEO and make it even harder for us to monetize and survive. Let's call it digital colonialism. 16/17
And these are just my experiences. I'm sure there are countless other BIPOC writers who have to endure this constant disrespect. So reply back with your examples if you have them! 17/17
