Disclosures and Conflicts of Interest

Since its founding in 2015, Energi Media has primarily generated revenue from fee-for-service, supplemented by reader subscriptions and occasional small sponsorships from companies and universities. In 2022, for the first time, Energi Media received a grant, in this case from the Ivey Foundation. Part of the grant supports our journalism and 60% of the funding pays for communications services (primarily video production) to Ivey grantees. Ivey funds a number of net-zero organizations and think tanks whose experts Energi Media has been interviewing for years. This creates a conflict of interest for Energi Media. After much consideration, we have decided that the research provided by the grantees is too important to be avoided because of a conflict. Our policy is that we will disclose a conflict at the beginning of every interview or column, and we will discuss any special circumstances involved with the conflict.

There is a special case that needs to be mentioned. The Alberta Federation of Labour contracted with Markham to help write “Skate to Where the Puck is Going,” a report about the Alberta energy economy. We decided to not report or comment directly upon the report’s release. If the report is part of other stories or interviews we are working on, however, we will disclose our participation in the project.

A final note: conflicts of interest are difficult to avoid for independent journalists. Small media organizations like Energi Media inevitably report upon clients or funders. The best we can do is disclose the conflict and behave ethically to the best of our abilities. This is not an ideal solution, but it’s the best we can do under the circumstances.