It has never been easy for co-operatives to find their way into the pages of the Globe and Mail, the daily newspaper of choice for Canada's business elite. But the International Year of Co-operatives has changed all that.
On May 15, the Globe published an eight-page special report entitled "The Power of Co-operatives", sponsored by the Canadian Co-operative Association and the International Summit of Cooperatives and funded by advertising from several major Canadian co-operative organizations.
With a front page bearing the headline "Ethical values underpin global movement", the special report included stories on virtually every aspect of the Canadian co-operative sector, from credit unions to car sharing co-ops; from agricultural co-ops to the role of the Canadian co-op movement in international development; from co-op housing to the importance of co-ops in the Canadian Arctic. There was also an article on the Summit, a major international co-op conference which will take place in Quebec City in October, and one on the global impact of co-operatives, quoting from the latest ICA Global 300 report.
The report was peppered with quotes from Canadian co-op movement leaders, including Kathy Bardswick of The Co-operators (insurance); Monique Leroux of Desjardins (financial group); Simon Robert of Agropur (dairy); and Tamara Vrooman of Vancity (credit union), as well as Claude Gauthier, president of the Canadian Co-operative Association, David Phillips, CEO of Credit Union Central of Canada and Nicholas Gazzard, executive director of the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada.
While the special report was not included in the electronic edition of the Globe, the newspaper made a .pdf version available for online use. The .pdf can be downloaded at http://s.coop/coopsgm or viewed online below.
Comments
Indeed,it is difficult for the cooperative stories to find good space in the mainstream press.The International Year of Cooperatives has provided an opportunity for the cooperative organisations the world over to make earnest efforts to pitch in their stories in the mainstream newspapers.Despite onslaught of digital communications, the mainstream newspapers are still read by the common people,and they have a strong mass base.The Canadian example presents a model in this regard as the cooperative stories have got good coverage in the mainstream newspapers.It is a huge challenge for the cooperative communications professionals in the developing countries to ensure that the cooperative stories find their place in the mainstream newspapers/magazines.May be at the end of International Year,we can have a definite data about the cooperative stories finding a place in the mainstream idea on a global level.
Sanjay Verma
NCUI & ICA-AP