Our Staff

Joey Coleman is the self-publisher who runs all aspects of The Public Record.

His passion for local engagement began as a teenager when he spoke in front of Council in favour of the renovation of his neighbourhood Boys’ and Girls’ Club.
He later sat as the only student representative on the transition committees for the merger of the Hamilton Board of Education and Wentworth County Board of Education. In 2000, he ran for school board trustee in his home ward, Ward 5. Spending just under $500 on his campaign, he secured 23% of the vote in a three-way race.
He served three years in the Canadian Forces, much of this time as a full-time reservist.
In Winter 2007, he was recruited by Maclean’s to be part of a two-person team launching their daily online coverage of higher education in Canada. In August 2009, he voluntary left the site. Disillusioned by the decline of journalism into clickbait, Joey planned to leave the trade. A surprise offer to write a weekly blog post for The Globe and Mail on higher education kept him in journalism.
In 2010, Joey took a summer position in his hometown of Hamilton, reigniting his passion for journalism.
He left national journalism in 2010. In 2012, he launched his first crowdfunding campaign, and he been covering Hamilton’s civic affairs ever since as Canada’s first crowdfunded local journalist.
In 2019, he was recogonized as one of Canada’s top journalists. He was named the 2019/20 St. Clair Balfour Fellow as part of the William Southam Journalism Fellowship program at Massey College in the University of Toronto.
While at the University of Toronto, he studied in Civic Engineering (municipal infrastructure), Mathematics, Public Planning Policy, and Law (aboriginal, intellectual property, and administrative).
In 2023, he was named an Action Canada Fellow by the Public Policy Forum.
He lives in the Beasley Neighbourhood.

Joey believes the primary crisis facing journalism is a loss of public trust resulting from the collapse in local coverage. He’s working to solve this at The Public Record.

The Public Record does not engage in the practice of exploiting young journalists with unpaid internships and other forms of unpaid labour.
Presently, The Public Record does not engage in work placements.
Journalism students are welcome to shadow our editor for up to two days, contact Joey to inquire about shadowing.

There are presently no contributors to the site.