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The Kingston Crow takes flight
This week, The Kingston Crow began publishing. It’s a local online news source started by two former Kingston Whig-Standard journalists, Mary Anne Beaudette and Anne Kershaw. It is free to subscribe.
Stories in the first edition include an article on the struggling electric ferry to Wolfe Island, access to Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) for people in the Kingston region, and an analysis of Canada’s future faced with President Trump’s annexation mindset.
For The Kingston Crow founders, the need for more news coverage was obvious. “We don’t plan to try to compete with others for stories about accidents, police reports and news release announcements. Our content will be more driven by the interests and expertise of our contributors. We want to encourage reporters and writers to pursue story ideas that interest them and that they believe would be of interest to the local community,” says Kershaw, a former City Editor and Editorial Page Editor for the Whig-Standard.
Beaudette, a former senior editor for the defunct Whig-Standard Magazine, encourages local writers to contribute stories to what is currently an all-volunteer effort. “We welcome submissions. Postings, written or videoed, can take the form of journalistic reports, op-eds, substantive letters, and first-person accounts. Submissions should be 200 words for letters, 400 to 2,000 words for articles, columns and op-eds, and three minutes for videos.”
The Kingston Crow can be reached by email. (TheKingstonCrow@gmail.com)
Why the name?
Beaudette and Kershaw thought of the name for their online newspaper months before the City of Kingston asked for the public to vote on the bird to represent Kingston. Having a city bird is part of the effort for Kingston to be named a Bird-Friendly City. The American Crow tied with the Northern Cardinal with 339 votes each, so Kingston will have two official birds.
Explaining the choice of a name for their publication, Kershaw reflects on the many wonderful traits of the crow “including its cleverness, social cooperation and playfulness. We’re happy that the name The Kingston Crow echoes our community’s admiration and love of the bird.”
Tracking Crows in local neighbourhoods
Crow Watch, Kingston on Facebook tracks the movement of crows often following their evening mass migration to downtown spaces. Posts have videos, photographs, and location information.
Photo by Steve Manders taken on Wednesday, October 29, 2025, at Sydenham Street and William Street