Top Community TV stories of 2024
By The Trash Panda
It’s been an incredible year of growth for Community TV Medicine Hat with a record number of Hatters turning to the online media outlet for news, opinion and information.
And it’s thanks to readers that 2024 has been such a banner year and bucking the trend in news media with literal exponential increases in viewership.
The Trash Panda’s top five stories of 2024 based on readership also reflects an increase in diversity in contributors to Community TV with Kelly Allard, Kaleigh McArthur and Alex McCuaig joining publisher Tom Fougere.
It should be no surprise to any Hatter that stories about Medicine Hat City Hall dominate Community TV’s top stories as the pearl-clutching going on in the glass palace started early in the year and continued to the end.
Allard’s articles on the immediate fallout from the March sanctions against Mayor Linnsie Clark by councillors hit two of the top three stories of the year.
In her March 23rd piece, “The Shitshow Continues,” Allard coined the handle of Queen Ann in describing the actions of city manager Ann Mitchell and her autocratic style in running city hall.
That number one ranked story was followed two days later by the third most popular story of the year with Allard breaking down of the wall put up by Mitchell in separating elected officials from running the city in her piece, “Timeline of a Coup.”
Sandwiched in-between is the second-highest read piece of 2024 with McArthur’s exposing an alarming level of censorship by city officials in the removal of an outdoor art display at Police Point Park.
In “Police Point Pornographic Protest Stripped Publicly,” McArthur chronicled how a photo featuring two male exposed bums by apparently a single individual or small group resulted in the removal of the artwork.
The fourth most-read piece was from McCuaig who obtained a consensually recorded conversation between Coun. Shila Sharps and a local resident in which the elected official spilled the dirt on plans to cut staff by 20 per cent and her fellow councillors.
In, “Shila Sharps’ Diatribe – Recorded,” the outspoken councillor stated:
“My battle is let’s lose 20 per cent of our staff and maintain our services for our community,” said Sharps in the May recording. “My idea for 2025 is no more than a two per cent tax increase. The only way I can do that – I’ve already got my five votes to get that done.”
Rounding out the top five stories was another piece by Allard which revealed the anonymous backer of the Sun City Sentential which featured anonymous writers quoting anonymous city staff and councillors regarding sanctions against Mayor Clark.
Allard revealed through her trademark sleuthing that local political gadfly Craig Elder was at least the money behind the online publication in her piece, “Who Runs the Sun City Sentinel.”
That outlet appears to have stopped publishing with its last piece dating from Nov. 27.
While the top five read articles drove a lot of traffic to the Community TV website, dozens of other articles are worth honourable mention as the reflect the esprit de corps of the online news outlet in pushing for the freedom of the press.
Fougere’s attempt to document citizens’ concerns regarding the Mustard Seed resulted in his physical expulsion from the police station where the public meeting was held.
That incident spawn several stories the top of which was, “Allegations Leveled Against Mustard Seed at Community Meeting.”
Community TV also took on the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) and its online broadcast of public hearings on the Grassy Mountain coal mine.
The AER claimed those hearings were its intellectual property and could not be broadcast despite no authority to place such a restriction on a public meeting. That situation and reversal of the province’s energy regulator position was documented in a trio of pieces, the top of which was, “AER Claiming Public Hearing is its Intellectual Property.”
Community TV will be hosting a live podcast on 2024’s top stories at 11 am on Friday Jan. 3, 2025.