The ''Fort McMurray Today'' is a publication based in
Fort McMurray
Fort McMurray ( ) is an urban service area in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Alberta, Canada. It is located in northeast Alberta, in the middle of the Athabasca oil sands, surrounded by boreal forest. It has played a significa ...
,
Alberta
Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
. It is considered the paper of record for Fort McMurray and covers a number of topics affecting the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo.
The daily newspaper was founded in 1974 after Bowes Publishing bought the weekly McMurray Courier, a weekly newspaper founded in 1970 by Frances Jean. Ownership transferred to
Sun Media
Sun Media Corporation was the owner of several tabloid and broadsheet newspapers in Canada and the 49% owner of the now defunct Sun News Network. It was a subsidiary of Quebecor Media.
On October 6, 2014, Quebecor Media announced the sale of ...
in 1988, which was then bought by
Postmedia
Postmedia Network Canada Corp. (also known as Postmedia Network, Postmedia News or Postmedia) is an American-owned Canadian-based media conglomerate consisting of the publishing properties of the former Canwest, with primary operations in Engl ...
in 2014.
In 2017, the newspaper's coverage of the
2016 Fort McMurray Wildfire
On May 1, 2016, a wildfire began southwest of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. On May 3, it swept through the community, forcing the largest wildfire evacuation in Alberta's history, with upwards of 88,000 people forced from their homes. ...
won a
National Newspaper Award
The National Newspaper Awards () are prizes awarded annually for the best work in Canadian newspapers.
Synopsis
The awards were first given in 1949 by the Toronto Press Club, which ran the awards until 1989. They are now given by an independent ...
for breaking news. The award was shared with the combined newsroom of the ''
Edmonton Journal
The ''Edmonton Journal'' is a daily newspaper published in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It is part of the Postmedia Network.
History
The ''Journal'' was founded in 1903 by three local businessmen — John Macpherson, Arthur Moore and J.W. Cunn ...
'' and ''
Edmonton Sun
The ''Edmonton Sun'' is a daily newspaper and news website published in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It is owned by Postmedia following its 2015 acquisition of Sun Media from Quebecor.
It began publishing Sunday April 2, 1978 and shares many ch ...
''.
That same year, the newspaper also covered infrastructure for running water and sewage systems that have been a long-awaited priority for the RMWB's hamlets of
Anzac
The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) was originally a First World War army corps of the British Empire under the command of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. It was formed in Egypt in December 1914, and operated during the ...
,
Conklin,
Gregoire Lake Estates,
Janvier (Chard) and
Saprae Creek. Conklin and Janvier (Chard), which has a population that is mostly
First Nation and
Métis
The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...
, also faced a housing crisis. The series was nominated in the Community Media category by the
Canadian Association of Journalists
The Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ; ''in French: Association Canadienne des Journalistes'') is an independent, not-for-profit organization dedicated to advocacy and professional development for journalists across Canada. Founded in 1978 ...
.
Fort McMurray Today published Monday to Saturday until the
2016 Fort McMurray Wildfire
On May 1, 2016, a wildfire began southwest of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. On May 3, it swept through the community, forcing the largest wildfire evacuation in Alberta's history, with upwards of 88,000 people forced from their homes. ...
on May 3, 2016.
The newspaper temporarily became an online-only publication until November 2016 when the tabloid began publishing Tuesday and Friday. A supplemental tabloid was delivered free throughout Fort McMurray every Thursday.
The newspaper became a free weekly in August 2019 that was published every Thursday. On January 17, 2023, Postmedia announced Fort McMurray Today and 11 other properties would become online news websites by the end of February.
See also
*
List of newspapers in Canada
This list of newspapers in Canada is a list of newspapers printed and distributed in Canada. Daily newspapers
Local weeklies Alberta
* Bashaw – ''Bashaw Star''
* Bassano – ''Bassano Times''
* Beaumont – ''Beaumont News''
* Beaverlodg ...
*
Media in Fort McMurray
References
External links
ISSN 0316-7542''Fort McMurray Today''
{{Canadian journalism
Postmedia Network publications
Mass media in Fort McMurray
Daily newspapers published in Alberta
Publications with year of establishment missing