A View from the Top – Alberta Views is Canada’s Magazine of the Year
AMPA spoke to Flanagan about the significance of the national award, what social media means for magazines, and how Alberta Views will continue to play a critical role in Alberta’s socio-political landscape.
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| AMPA: You’ve said you started Alberta Views as a reaction to the right-leaning Alberta Report. How successful do you feel you’ve been in presenting an alternative view both for and of Albertans? Jackie Flanagan: It wasn’t entirely a reaction to Alberta Report, but it was one factor. It seemed to me that the things people were reading were providing one perspective on public policy. To add some richness to the dialogue about the direction we were going in the province, I thought it would be good to have a magazine that was more alternative and more progressive. We’ve had a Conservative government entrenched for 37 years, so there’s not a lot of diversity in our political culture and not a lot of room for opposition to mainstream ideas. If Alberta Views has been successful in contributing to a richer and more varied discussion, and a critique of policy in the province, I’m really glad. Alberta has a lot of very thoughtful people in it—progressive people and people concerned about the public good. Just because they haven’t been represented in our government doesn’t mean they’re not here. Alberta Views is no stranger to awards, but your recognition as Magazine of the Year at the National Magazine Awards must be significant. What set 2008 apart from previous years? The 10 issues of 2008 were special to us because it was our 10th anniversary year. We put concentrated effort into the Jan/Feb issue [bringing back designer Rick Staehling]. We did an illustration on every cover for that year. There was a team at the magazine utterly committed to our purpose and dedicated beyond belief. Also, John Ralston Saul has been a subscriber from the beginning, which was really gratifying because his book The Unconscious Civilization was one of my inspirations to start the magazine. He wrote an article for that Jan/Feb 2008 issue. He commented on Alberta Views and how he felt it was an important magazine for citizens in our time. If the judges in Toronto read that article, they might have thought, “Gee, maybe this magazine is worth paying attention to.” [laughs] How has this award been an affirmation for Alberta Views? Alberta Views specializes in long-form investigative journalism, which magazines have traditionally done well. What is your opinion about byte-sized snippets of information (i.e., Twitter, micro-blogs, Facebook, etc.)? Friends or foes to magazines? Social media present tremendous opportunities for the transformation of democracy. Social networking allows people to connect but they also present the opportunity for people to find like minds to get involved with something that has implications for changes to society, like democratic discussion of political events or policies. I don’t think it means that magazines have to die because if you don’t really understand the complexity of an issue, you can’t make intelligent decisions. Part of the role of the editor and writer is to provide that richer, more thorough context and background. Some people get all their information from the Internet and don’t read magazines, but I love magazines. I want them to continue and I know quite a few people who feel the same way. God knows there’s millions of magazines sold in Canada every year. What I think is fabulous about social media is people are talking to each other and feel at liberty to express all kinds of ideas and opinions. In a similar sense, a magazine like Alberta Views reinforces the idea of “Let’s have discussion; let’s have some diversity in this province; let’s have some opposition in the legislature. Even, imagine this, elect a different government!” [laughs] What’s next for Alberta Views? |
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