Overstory Media Group

Overview

Overstory Media Group (OMG) is a Canadian media company based in Victoria, British Columbia, that owns and operates local news publications distributed primarily through email newsletters across British Columbia, Alberta and Nova Scotia, including Capital Daily, The Georgia Straight, The Coast (Halifax), Vancouver Tech Journal, Fraser Valley Current, Burnaby Beacon, Calgary Citizen and Calgary Tech Journal.

History

Overstory was founded in May 2021 by Farhan Mohamed, former editor-in-chief and co-owner of Daily Hive, and tech entrepreneur Andrew Wilkinson, co-founder of the holding company Tiny. It grew out of Capital Daily, a Victoria newsletter Wilkinson had launched in 2019 that reached roughly 40,000 to 50,000 subscribers within its first year. At launch, the company announced plans to establish 50 outlets and hire 250 journalists by 2023. Instead, following its April 2022 acquisition of Halifax weekly The Coast and its September 2022 acquisition of Vancouver's Georgia Straight from the bankrupt Media Central Corporation, OMG conducted repeated rounds of layoffs, cutting Capital Daily's editorial staff in half in January 2023. Three of the journalists let go were part of a committee organizing with CWA Canada to unionize OMG's roughly 27 remaining non-managerial employees; the company retained the law firm Fasken LLP, spending more than $60,000 over two months, and contested the union's jurisdiction before the Canada Industrial Relations Board, which ruled in Overstory's favor on June 6, 2024. In March 2024, OMG's board removed Mohamed as CEO, replacing him with board member and former British Columbia premier Glen Clark, who does not draw a salary in the role; Mohamed retained his board seat. In June 2025, Overstory instituted a policy requiring editorial staff across its publications to use AI tools including Otter.ai, Quillbot, Beehiiv and Claude.ai in their daily workflows, drawing criticism from other outlets over bylined content that appeared to be AI-generated.

Key personnel

CEO: Glen Clark
Co-founder and Executive Chairman: Andrew Wilkinson

Location and contact info

Address
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Website
https://www.overstorymedia.com