A new Canada-U.S. study in Editor & Publisher revealed major journalism student concerns. Instructor Tyler Nagel of the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, and Journalism Professor Teri Finneman of the University of Kansas, surveyed 183 local communication students in their late teens to early 20s. Most expressed concerns with “social life, salary, lack of belief in career advancement, remoteness from family members, and lack of knowledge of available jobs.”

 

After 208 years, the iconic Farmers’ Almanac will be part of media history. The Maine-based publication was one of the best-selling in North America, offering planting advice to farmers and gardeners, weather forecasts, astronomical charts, practical advice, and even humour! A fond farewell was posted on its website December 10th, 2025 (www.farmersalmanac.com/fond-farewell-from-farmers-almanac). From its first edition in 1818, it’s enduring popularity has survived radio, daily newspapers, TV, digital editions, the Internet, social media, and AI.

 

Anne M. Crossman, a columnist with Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley Register, recently released Anne Crossman’s Commonplace Book, a paperback containing some of the columns she’s written during the past five years, noting the interaction with the public is what she enjoys most. She previously worked for newspapers in Halifax, Bridgewater and Yellowknife, and CBC Radio in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories.

 

Time Magazine cited 2025 as the year when the enormous potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) came clearly into view around the world. “For delivering the age of thinking machines, for wowing and worrying humanity, for transforming the present and transcending the possible, the Architects of AI are Time’s 2025 Person of the Year,” the magazine said in a social-media post. Time focussed on the “individuals who imagined, designed, and built AI” rather than the power of the game-changing technology itself.

 In April 2025, Glacier Media (now Lodestar) shut down three community news outlets in British Columbia – Burnaby Now, New West Record, and Tri-City News – leaving about 600,000 residents without daily local coverage. When those outlets also ceased digital publication, laid-off reporters Cornelia Naylor, Theresa McManus, Mario Bartel and Janis Cleugh (above, from left), formed a non-profit news co-operative and launched the Freshet News website in October.

 Effective January 6, 2025, Marion Garner will be the publisher of Penguin Random House Canada, succeeding Nicole Winstanley. Garner began her career at Penguin Canada (then Random House of Canada) in 1996 as a sales representative. Since then, she has held a variety of key positions, including Associate Publisher of Vintage Canada; Associate Publisher, The Knopf Random House Canada Group; and Deputy Publisher, Penguin Random House Canada.

 The Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) Annual Awards Program recognizes the best in Canadian journalism with a specific focus on investigative work. Entries are welcome from any practising journalist whose work has been published or broadcast in Canada. The online portal for submissions is now open. Deadline to submit entries is midnight, January 13, 2026.

 Canada Post Corporation and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) reached tentative agreements December 22, 2025, for both the Urban and RSMC (Rural and Suburban Mail Carrier) bargaining units. After reaching agreements in principle in November of 2025, the parties have now finalized contractual language for new collective agreements that include wage increases, enhanced health benefits, and a weekend parcel delivery model. Both agreements are for five years and would be in effect until January 31, 2029.