About us
New West Anchor was launched in May 2022 by award-winning journalist Ria Renouf. Renouf, who has lived in New West since 2017, was looking for a way to get involved in her community while showcasing her passion for storytelling.
The Anchor is under the umbrella of Overstory Media Group (OMG), a company aligned with Renouf's passions of community, storytelling, and dialogue. The word 'Overstory' refers to the layer of forest vegetation and foliage, often a canopy of trees: we consider ourselves a creative ecosystem, namely, we journalists can't do what we do without our neighbours and community.
Our sister publications include The Georgia Straight, Burnaby Beacon, Vancouver Tech Journal, The Coast in Halifax, and Capital Daily in Victoria—just to name a few.
We recognize and respect that New Westminster is on the unceded and unsurrendered land of the Halkomelem speaking peoples. We acknowledge that colonialism has made invisible their histories and connections to the land.
Meet our team
Ria Renouf, managing editor
With a decade of experience in major market reporting, anchoring, and hosting, Ria first got her start at Global News 980/CKNW filing holiday stories as an intern. By early 2014, she was working as a fill-in reporter and was officially offered a job as a morning show news anchor; that was followed by the assignment editor chair months after that. She left the station in May 2018 to give public relations a try but returned to radio a few months later, accepting a job at CityNews Vancouver. She anchored the station's popular afternoon drive show for nearly three years. By 2021, she was reporting for CityNews Vancouver's TV side.
Ria is a seven-time nominated news anchor and reporter, winning two Edward R. Murrow awards and a Radio Television Digital National Award for her radio anchoring and writing at CityNews in Vancouver. Much of what she's been nominated for highlights her calm and informative approach to breaking news, including Christy Clark's resignation as the leader of the BC Liberal party, the fatal 2019 Peace Arch Border crash, first reports of the border closure in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol.
The aim of The Anchor is to blend news coverage with news you can use: Ria is best known in the community for her coverage of New West council, but her heart lies in community profiles, which is why The Anchor’s community spotlight is her favourite section to work on.
When she's not writing about New West, you can find this downtown resident exploring the city with her husband, Jon, or posting to social media for New West restaurant Piva Modern Italian.
Follow Ria on Twitter: @riarenouf
Brianna Reeve, reporter (summer 2023 intern)
Brianna Reeve is an intern with both New West Anchor and our sister publication Burnaby Beacon. She moved to BC last year to attend UBC. She’s working on obtaining her master’s in journalism.
Outside of school, she enjoys all things outdoors, and is currently training to run the Vancouver Half Marathon—which will be her second half marathon. She also likes hiking and is looking forward to exploring more of BC’s beautiful mountains over the summer.
On rainy days, you can find her curled up with a good book and her cat, Salem. She reads a little bit of everything, from the Canada Reads 2023 shortlist to YA fantasy. Lately, she’s been a sucker for Greek myth retellings.
Brianna is excited to be joining both The Anchor and The Beacon this summer and can’t wait to start bringing stories that matter to you to your inbox.