Cobourg Online

A Google search will find answers to questions that you know to ask but doesn’t work well if you don’t know what to ask.  Would you think to ask “when did a plane land in Cobourg?” Or “what activities are there in Cobourg?” And some questions don’t get complete answers – like “what shows are on this weekend?”  What you need are web sites that you go to that provide those answers – but how do you find those web sites? Well, read on. You already know how to get Cobourg News – it’s right here plus I have provided links to other news sites in Cobourg (see menu at the top of the page).  But it’s not always obvious… Read complete articleCobourg Online

Hot topics in 2019

Although major newspapers and magazines (e.g. Time) publish Person of the Year and News of the Year, these are selected by journalists and not the readers of these publications.  But the blog format provides a way of measuring interest – the number of hits and the number of comments.  Although the Cobourg News Blog email goes out to about 1200 subscribers, not everyone clicks on the link to read more.  And although others look at the home page, not everyone goes past that to the detailed articles. So what are Cobourg people really interested in? I have listed below what people read about in 2019 with ranking based on hits.  Note that unlike many web sites, the count of hits… Read complete articleHot topics in 2019

Merry Christmas from Cobourg News Blog

Once again we come to the Holiday Season with Christmas as the central attraction – whether you are Christian or not.  For everyone it’s a time where we get together with family and/or friends and forget the troubles of the world – so I won’t be reporting on any Town events in this Post.  But I would like to thank everyone who has participated in the forum provided here and a special thanks to those who see me around town and take the time to let me know that they appreciate my work. As you know, I don’t operate this “blog” as a business but instead as a service.  As such, I am quite happy to recommend others in Cobourg… Read complete articleMerry Christmas from Cobourg News Blog

Netflix Back in Town

In late August this year, a film production company was in Cobourg shooting an early episode of a new Netflix series, Ginny and Georgia (see link below) – and they were back again on Tuesday.  This time they shot a scene in front of Victoria Hall with a “Fall Festival” theme and they closed off King Street for the day. Lots of Cobourg passers-by stopped to look at what was happening but if you ventured past a sign (see text below), you could end up as a free extra in the film.   It’s flattering that film producers like what they see in Cobourg but also the crew needs to eat so they do bring business to the Town.  The Town… Read complete articleNetflix Back in Town

News Sources for Cobourg

With the closing of Cobourg’s only daily newspaper in November of 2017, many have struggled to find out what’s happening.  A group led by Journalists John Miller and Rob Washburn started Northumberland Hub to try to provide a way of steering people to alternative news sources but that closed in February, 2019.  At the risk of leaving out useful sources and expressing an opinion, I thought it’s time to recap how to get news updates if you live in Cobourg.  If you are reading this, you know that Cobourg News blog is part of that but it does not by itself completely fill the gap. The short answer is that instead of relying on a single newspaper for everything, you… Read complete articleNews Sources for Cobourg

Can the Town of Cobourg Communicate better?

Currently the Town communicates to citizens using the remaining newspaper, the Town website, social media (including You-Tube) and email – and communications manager Ashley Purdy wants to know how it can be done better.  A new survey with 10 questions is now available until Friday, March 29, 2019 (see link below).  Questions start by asking how you currently get news and go on to ask for suggestions on what can be done to do better.  The focus is on what the Town does: Planning, Town managed events and Venture 13 but there is no suggestion that the Town should provide information on what other organizations are doing even though the Town promotes Tourism and visitors are interested in events managed… Read complete articleCan the Town of Cobourg Communicate better?

Northumberland Hub to shut down

On 27 November 2017, Northumberland Today shut down and left a big gap in local News coverage in Cobourg and Northumberland.  Although Northumberland News continued, it only publishes once a week so the rest of the week was left without any coverage.  So John Miller started a group to see what could be done.  The first step was a Town Hall meeting on 20 March 2018 which 160 people attended.  Since John was away, Rob Washburn stepped in to lead discussion.  Although it was apparent that most people wanted a restoration of a daily printed newspaper, it  was apparent that the only option was some form of online service.  Fifteen sites were identified as providing local news so the concept… Read complete articleNorthumberland Hub to shut down

Review of 2018 News

It’s getting to the time of year to have high hopes for the New Year but 2018 was eventful for the world and for Cobourg.  It’s easy to forget what happened during the year – we had two elections so we now have a new Provincial Government and a new council; we had the major cultural event “Armistice 18”; the east pier was shut down; rezoning for a new school in New Amherst was approved despite protests;  people made clear that they were not happy with the closure of the daily local newspaper; and there were many more events that made news. I have listed 23 highlights with a link to a post about it. Some events had several posts… Read complete articleReview of 2018 News