Halifax’s ‘The Coast’ Sold To B.C. Media Company
HALIFAX—B.C.’s Overstory Media Group has bought Halifax arts and culture publication The Coast. Co-founders Christine Oreskovich and Kyle Shaw announced the sale in a letter to readers on April 20.
They said the past two years have been tough on their publication and they need the support of an organization like Overstory.
Overstory is a media company focused on supporting local journalism. Farhan Mohamed and Andrew Wilkinson founded the company in 2021 with a lofty promise to make big investments in local news.
Mohamed is the former co-owner and editor-in-chief of The Daily Hive and Wilkinson is the co-founder of venture capital firm Tiny Capital.
When they founded Overstory, they said their goal was to own 50 publications, supporting 250 journalists, by 2023. Right now, the company owns a handful of Western Canadian publications, including the Vancouver Tech Journal, the Calgary Citizen, and Capital Daily.
The Coast Team Will Keep Editorial Control
In a phone call with Huddle on April 20, Mohamed said Overstory didn’t actively seek out The Coast as an acquisition. Instead, someone (he didn’t confirm who) approached the company with a pitch.
“The Coast wasn’t something that was on my radar. I knew about it; I had been following it; and then I got an email introduction to Christina and Kyle and I said, ‘this is cool. Let’s have a chat.’ And one thing leads to another,” he said.
He wouldn’t say how much Overstory paid for the company.
Mohamed said he doesn’t plan to get involved in editorial decision-making at The Coast. He says the publication’s overall direction will be very similar under Overstory.
“Honestly, [it will do] a lot of what it has been doing over the past 30 years. I’m never going to profess to know anything about these communities. And The Coast in Halifax is no different,” he said.
“I know pretty much nothing about the community. I want to learn about it but Christine and Kyle and the team there, they are the ones who are really running the ship.
“For us, it’s looking to say ‘how can we help support your mission?’”
Mohamed said The Coast‘s editors will still “make the final calls and oversee everything” but that Overstory will “give them strategy advice and consultation, and what we call editorial strategy support.”
New Owners Don’t Want To Make ‘A Ton Of Money’
The Coast was founded in 1993 and for decades published a weekly “alt” newspaper focused on arts and culture in Halifax. The company also runs well-known Halifax events like Halifax Burger Week (which has been renamed Halifax Burger Bash) and the Best of Halifax Readers’ Choice Awards.
But The Coast struggled during the pandemic, as revenue from events and advertisers dried up. In March of 2020, it laid off about 20 employees, axed its weekly print publication, and shifted to a “bare-bones” digital newsroom.
Oreskovich and Shaw admit the last two years have been tough.
In their message to readers, they wrote that it was a struggle “to consistently produce an online version of The Coast that achieves the high standards we set for the print edition.”
“We knew we needed expert guidance and we felt we owed it to our team and readers to find a partner that could coach and mentor The Coast into being a stronger digital media outlet,” they wrote.
Mohamed said Overstory is going to help The Coast become “what the community wants.” He said if readers want the print publication back, and that won’t lose the company money, then “we will probably do it.”
He did hint, however, that Oreskovich and Shaw are interested in doing more events. Within the past few days, The Coast has also hired a newsletter editor and Mohamed said it’s planning to further expand its newsroom with a couple more hires.
It’s notoriously tough to make money on local news and The Coast has been in the red for years. However, Mohamed said the Coast has a very strong brand, and connection to the communiny, so he’s okay if it bleeds money for a while longer to eventually stabilize.
“Let’s figure out how we’re going to get there, knowing that we might continue losing money for a little bit longer,” he said. “But there’s light at the end and we think that we can get there.”
He said Overstory’s ultimate goal with The Coast, and all of its publications, is not to make a ton of money but make just enough to keep growing.
“Gone are these days where we should be focusing on money and only money. Instead, let’s focus on the community,” he said.
“It’s not about how much you can make, but how much you need to make. We need enough to be able to sustain ourselves. And if we can do that, I think we’re going to be around for the next 20, 30, 40, 50 years.”
Trevor Nichols is the associate editor of Huddle, based in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].
