February 13, 2023
SHARE
CANADALAND
#858 One Rich Man Won’t Save Journalism
They said they’d found a way to save journalism. They did not.

Andrew Wilkinson and former media editor-in-chief Farhan Mohamed founded Overstory Media Group (OMG) on the promise of revitalizing local news. But after the firing of four star journalists on January 30th, Mohamed admits the company was losing money on hard journalism – and that moving to a ”community” focus would save them.

Current and former staff have expressed concern at the direction of the company – and some allege that OMG executives tried to interfere in editorial content. They paint a picture of a workplace where failed expectations of growth often lead to layoffs.

Cherise Seucharan and Jonathan Goldsbie examine the fallout at OMG, and what it means for journalism, hopeful tech millionaires, and the state of democracy overall.    

Credits: Cherise Seucharan, Jonathan Goldsbie, Tristan Capacchione, Annette Ejiofor

Further reading:

Sponsors: Rotman Executive Programs, HelloFresh

If you value this podcast, Support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch at our store, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody.  

You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music—included with Prime.

More from this series
“ Kevin looked at him and said, ‘Your tears add no value to this deal.’ It was just a great fucking moment.” -Stuart Coxe, Dragons’ Den Producer
July 20, 2026
“In the corner in the room there was a screen and there I could see the numbers going up. Then I figured that this is the amount of eggs that they're retrieving and it felt like a scoreboard in the operating room.” - Sana Al-Badri (IVF egg donor)
July 13, 2026
 It was an awful time. And to also be told, “You were unethical by using this facilitation letter." It was, it was like I was in some kind of nightmare. -Investigative Reporter Laura Robinson
July 6, 2026
The Theresa Kielburger lawsuit, Jesse’s union negotiating tactics, a new JSP.
July 2, 2026
Today, we’re headed to “Bovine University” to figure out what’s at the heart of an Ontario law, and why animal rights activists are unhappy about it.
June 29, 2026
 Things that are misleading, like “mystery illness,” I hope are lost from the general vocabulary in the public media sooner rather than later. -Dr. Michael Coulthart
June 22, 2026
“Nothing about this World Cup is uniting the world. If anything, it's dividing it further.” -Karim Zidan
June 15, 2026
“ If you don't know who Cohere is, you will.” -Mark Carney
June 8, 2026
all podcasts arrow All Podcasts
CANADALAND