Sun Times News Launches YouTube Channel with Focus on Local Video Storytelling

For a debut feature, John U. Bacon discusses his book “The Gales of November” and the Legacy of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Photo: Director of Media Priscilla Creswell has a vision for local stories told though a variety of media. Photo courtesy of TRUiC

The Sun Times News is expanding how it shares community stories, launching its new YouTube channel with a focus on visual storytelling that connects local audiences in fresh, engaging ways.

Ann Arbor-based media and marketing company TRUiC (The Really Useful Information Company), the new parent company of The Sun Times News, is partnering with the publication to expand its reach and impact through digital storytelling.

The channel debuts with an interview featuring Michigan author John U. Bacon, discussing his new book The Gales of November, released to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Edmund Fitzgerald tragedy.

Prescilla Creswell, TRUiC’s Director of Media, said the collaboration between TRUiC and the Sun Times News is all about sustaining and strengthening community journalism. “Independent local papers, independent local news is more important now than ever,” Creswell said. “TRUiC has been perfecting the “educational video” format for nearly ten years, and I’ve been on that journey with them for almost seven years. We have iterated and reiterated on figuring out how to help audiences understand complicated, important topics and meet them where they’re at. We’ve daydreamed in years past about applying our philosophies to news, but we never imagined that it would actually happen. This feels like years of practice paying off in a moment that matters to our neighbors and benefits our friends at The Sun Times, who we treasure.“

Creswell explained that adding video to the Sun Times News mix allows the paper to meet readers and viewers where they are. “Right now, there’s been a huge push to get more short-form, super quick videos of current happenings up on Facebook, kind of the moment that they happen with very little filter, but just to show it, just to report it, so people who aren’t there know what’s going on in their community,” she said.

“I live in a small town myself,” she adds. “I see what it’s like to have bigger outlets swallow your town up when the opportunity strikes. Not cover what’s important, paint a biased picture, or even attribute accomplishments to the bigger town you’re attached to. It means so much to have reporting that is by and for the people who need it.”

While social media clips will bring immediacy, the team also plans to produce longer, more in-depth pieces. “These long-form pieces have the opportunity to reach a wider audience and get eyes on some of the things that we love about Michigan, broadly, but then also the small towns, and to give some humanity and some voice to it that comes from people who live there,” Creswell said.

She described the first video with Bacon as a bit of “kismet.” “It was an unexpected way to start the long-form content,” she said. “The team had this sort of kismet opportunity to interview an Ann Arbor author about a book coming out about the Edmund Fitzgerald. The 50th anniversary only comes up once, so if we could just jump on it and do it, not overthink it, that would be the best-case scenario.”

The video’s strong early response affirmed the decision. “So far, the launch of that first video has gone surprisingly well for a brand-new page that’s got nothing on it,” Creswell said. “We’ve gotten a lot of traction and some really powerful comments from people who were personally impacted by that night.”

Looking ahead, Creswell sees the Sun Times News YouTube channel as a way to elevate stories that begin in local towns but resonate far beyond them.

“Our big hope is to build a community on YouTube where we can tell engaging stories about what is happening right here at home, in a way that most small towns don’t get on an organization-wide level,” she concludes. “High quality, high impact, driven by what we care about. It’s been so wonderful to get closer to the journalists and reporters at The Sun Times. Hearing what they’re reporting on, what drives them, and how we can build it into video journalism is a mutually thrilling development. The mini-docs we’re developing now show a lot of promise. I’m so excited for the readers of The Sun Times to see them in the coming months.”

The Sun Times News YouTube channel is now live at https://www.youtube.com/@TheSunTimesNewsMI