How Canada’s biz sections are covering the cannabis industry

Don Pittis of CBC News examines how some of Canada’s business journalism outlets are covering the country’s growing cannabis industry.

Pittis reports, “At the Financial Post, editor Nicole MacAdam has just hired another journalist to help cover the complex world of cannabis startups and mergers. The business section that runs in Postmedia papers across Canada has had a full-time cannabis business specialist for the past two years and many general assignment reporters who contribute to the coverage.

“Postmedia also has a free-access site called The GrowthOp that launched about five months ago. MacAdam says that while it may be difficult to show the direct revenue stream attributable to pot reporting, the sector has become so high-profile there would be a cost in lost readership if Postmedia failed to keep up.

“At the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business, Garth Thomas, the paper’s head of business and financial products, has a different revenue strategy. He’s offering a new paid subscription service called Cannabis Pro, produced by a team of five business reporters.

“The service is regularly priced at $2,000 a year for a subscription, but with millions at stake in the booming sector, Thomas says that amount is well within the price range of not just those in the industry but those in the legal and financial professions that serve it. ”

Read more here.