Kevin Weedmark
Kevin Weedmark is a Canadian journalist. He is editor of the World-Spectator, a community newspaper based in Moosomin, Saskatchewan, of Ag News, reaching agricultural producers in southeast Saskatchewan and southwest Manitoba,and of Plain and Valley, a regional publication covering southeast Saskatchewan and southwest Manitoba. Reaching 28,000 households with the print edition, Plain and Valley has a larger circulation than either of Saskatchewan's daily newspapers. While based in rural Saskatchewan, he has reported from Afghanistan, Vietnam, and the Philippines. He is known for his work on business reporting, pipelines, the resource industry, economic development, and international development.
Born in Regina in 1966, Weedmark started work as a reporter at the World-Spectator in Moosomin in 1988, after graduating with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Regina. He was appointed editor of the World-Spectator in 1990, and purchased the company in 2002.
He twice won the Canadian International Development Agency's Award for Excellence in Writing on International Co-operation. These awards led to CIDA-sponsored trips to report on development projects in the Philippines and Vietnam. He travelled throughout the Philippines, from Manila and Los Banos to several locations in Mindanao, including Bukidnon, Cagayan de Oro and Lanao del Norte, including a trip to a Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) camp. He travelled throughout Vietnam, reporting from Hanoi, Da Nang, Hoi An, Ho Chi Min City, Soc Trang, and villages in the Mekong Delta accessible only by watercraft.
In 2004, the World-Spectator and the Canadian International Development Agency began a project through which Weedmark reported from Afghanistan and Pakistan. He was based in Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif while reporting from Afghanistan. He stayed in Mazar-e-Sharif at a time there were no international forces there. He visited many areas of Kabul and rural areas outside Kabul while staying there. The articles and photos were distributed to, and published by, newspapers across Canada, and were on display on Parliament Hill for MPs and Senators for International Development Day 2005. He has spoken about his experiences in Afghanistan to dozens of groups since the trip.
He twice won the Media Human Rights Award presented by the League for Human Rights of B'nai B'rith Canada. This was an open award for all print media in Canada. One of the awards was presented for "Freedom of Speech vs. Freedom from Hatred," which examined the relationship between the right to free speech and laws against hate speech in Canada. The other was for an investigation into the history of the Ku Klux Klan in Saskatchewan. He has been guest speaker at the annual meeting of the Saskatchewan Association for Human Rights, and was invited to speak on the Media and Human Rights at a conference held to mark the 50th anniversary of the United Nations adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Weedmark is editor and publisher of The World-Spectator, Ag News, and Plain and Valley, president of Weedmark Communications Ltd. and McKay Publications Ltd., secretary of the Moosomin Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Moosomin Housing Authority board of directors, a member of the Moosomin Economic Development Committee, and a member of the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors.
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