About The Flatlander

The Flatlander

Overview

The Flatlander is an independent digital news publication based in Regina, Saskatchewan, that covers the two Prairie provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. In the description carried by the 2025 Saskatchewan Media Directory, it is "a digital publication that untangles complex issues impacting Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It tells the stories of Prairie people and explores the communities and land we call home." It publishes reported stories on its website, theflatlander.ca, and rounds up the week's most important regional stories in an email digest for readers in both provinces.

The outlet's editor-in-chief is Kelly Riess, according to the provincial media directory. The Flatlander operates on a reader-supported model: it asks its audience to contribute financially so that its freelance journalists are paid, and it frames that support as what keeps community-driven Prairie journalism alive. Its independence and regional focus have drawn national attention — most recently, The Flatlander was named to the inaugural cohort of the Canadian Journalism Foundation's NextGen Creator-Journalists Training Program, which selected 20 digital-first journalists and media organizations from 57 applications across Canada to receive mentorship and training in audience development, monetization and building sustainable independent media ventures.

History

The Flatlander's public history is comparatively brief, and the publication has not published a detailed account of its own founding. What can be verified from its own communications is that it had been publishing for about two years when, on January 15, 2024, it wrote to readers to thank them for a year-end fundraising campaign, remarking that "in just two years, The Flatlander has sprouted and grown thanks to your support." That places its launch around 2022, in a period when Saskatchewan and Manitoba — like much of Canada — were losing legacy newsroom capacity and when small, digital-first outlets were emerging to fill the gaps.

That January 2024 letter gives a clear picture of the young outlet's economics and ambitions. The year-end campaign had raised $4,279 from readers, by the publication's own account, and the money was directed at a specific purpose: ensuring, in its words, that "our freelance journalists are paid decently to cover the stories that matter to us." The letter described the project as "community-driven Prairie journalism" and the outlet as "just getting started," inviting readers who had missed the campaign to contribute by e-transfer or PayPal. Through 2024 its weekly email digest was being distributed through Mailchimp under the banner "Your SK and MB news digest."

The Flatlander continued to build its institutional profile after that. It is listed in the 2025 Saskatchewan Media Directory, the province's standard reference for news media, with its Regina base, its editor-in-chief and its two-province mandate recorded. Its selection for the Canadian Journalism Foundation's NextGen Creator-Journalists Training Program — a program supported by the Google News Initiative, whose participants become eligible for post-program ambassador stipends of up to $10,000 — placed it alongside other emerging independent outlets from across the country and amounts to a national foundation's assessment that The Flatlander is an active, developing Prairie news voice, with the foundation describing it as "a Prairie-focused outlet covering underserved communities in Saskatchewan and Manitoba."

Programming and Content

The Flatlander's editorial promise, repeated in every edition of its email digest, is that it "takes a closer look at the local stories that shape our lives in Saskatchewan and Manitoba." Its content combines original and freelance-reported stories published on its website with a weekly digest that curates the top regional stories for subscribers. A representative digest — the edition of March 5, 2024 — shows the breadth of the two-province remit: Manitoba's cancellation of planned provincial high school exams; portraits of Holocaust and residential school survivors to be exhibited at a gallery in Humboldt, Saskatchewan; a profile of Ruby Chopstix, Manitoba's first drag artist-in-residence; the debate over reopening Winnipeg's Portage and Main intersection to pedestrians; Saskatchewan residents on low incomes worried about missing carbon rebate payments, with a Regina anti-poverty advocate quoted; sentencing in the case of a Winnipeg man who killed a Saskatchewan RCMP officer; and Melfort curler Ashley Thevenot reflecting on her first Scotties Tournament of Hearts appearance.

The bylines in that edition also illustrate the publication's production model: alongside staff and freelance contributors, The Flatlander republishes Canadian Press wire reporting, credited to the wire service, so that national-wire coverage of Prairie stories is gathered in one place for its readers. Its subject matter spans provincial politics and public policy, education, courts and policing, Indigenous issues, arts and culture, and sport — with an emphasis, per the Canadian Journalism Foundation's description, on underserved communities whose stories are least likely to be told by larger outlets. Its January 2024 digests, for instance, led with sustained coverage of the coroner's inquest into the September 2022 mass killing on the James Smith Cree Nation and in Weldon, Saskatchewan — the kind of long-running, community-shaping Prairie story, followed across multiple editions, that sits at the centre of its remit.

Audience and Reach

The Flatlander addresses readers across Saskatchewan and Manitoba who want Prairie-first news: people in Regina, Winnipeg and smaller communities in both provinces who follow provincial affairs and local stories. Its distribution model — a free website plus a subscription email digest rounding up the week's top stories from home — is aimed at readers who may no longer be served by a local daily newspaper. The publication does not publish audited audience, circulation or subscriber figures, and no independent audience measurement is publicly available; the only scale-related figure in the public record is the outlet's own reporting of its fundraising results, such as the $4,279 raised in its 2023 year-end campaign. Its inclusion in the provincial media directory and in the Canadian Journalism Foundation's national NextGen cohort indicates recognition within the industry that goes beyond what audience numbers alone would show.

Digital Presence

The Flatlander's digital home is theflatlander.ca, where its stories are published and readers can subscribe to its email digest; editions of the digest are sent through Mailchimp, which also hosts the "Your SK and MB news digest" archive. The publication maintains a social media presence as "The Flatlander News" under the handle @flatlandermedia, as recorded in the provincial media directory. Its web stories are formatted for republication and sharing, with the digest linking each summarized story back to the full text on the site.

Ownership and Organisation

The Flatlander is an independent publication based in Regina, Saskatchewan. It is led by editor-in-chief Kelly Riess, whom the 2025 Saskatchewan Media Directory lists as the outlet's senior editorial contact. Its journalism is produced by a small team working with freelance contributors, and its operating model is reader-supported: rather than depending on advertising, it solicits contributions from its audience — through year-end fundraising campaigns, e-transfer and PayPal donations — explicitly to pay its freelance journalists. No parent company, chain affiliation or corporate owner is associated with the publication in the public record; it presents itself, and is described by the Canadian Journalism Foundation, as an independent, Prairie-focused digital outlet.

Contact and Availability

The Flatlander can be read at theflatlander.ca, where readers can subscribe free to its SK and MB news digest and find information on supporting its stories. The publication is based in Regina, Saskatchewan, and covers both Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Its editor-in-chief, Kelly Riess, is listed in the 2025 Saskatchewan Media Directory with the contact address kriess@theflatlander.ca, and contributions toward its reader-funded journalism can be made through the channels described on its website.