Why were these 10 articles the most popular in 2022?

Going in the same direction, the communications strategist and general manager of Edelman Montreal, Martine St-Victor, adds the appeal of “inaccessible luxury”. “Real estate is always a dream,” she says. Visits to luxury real estate sites have increased. In the United States there is a term for this kind [of search]: real estate porn.» 

3. Party on a plane: the best memes about influencers in Tulum

Photo: Instagram Screenshots

January 2022, images taken during a private Sunwing flight to Tulum in Mexico, crowded with influencers, reality TV stars and other passengers on the party, go around the planet.  

Among the 20 most read articles on Métro in 2022, four are about these “ostrogoths”, to use the word used by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to describe passengers of this theft which takes place on December 30, 2021. It was enough for social networks to go wild, which pushed Métroto make a list of the best memes that obviously piqued your curiosity. 

Collective release 

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Photo: Screenshot Occupation Double’s Facebook page

Another controversy involving reality TV stars caused a lot of ink to flow this fall. Over behavior deemed 'toxic' of some competitors of Occupation double Martinique, viewers called for a boycott on social media and then a series of major sponsors pulled out. by eliminating the other participants.  

Clear your head

The fashion for reality shows is undeniable, but it seems that certain behaviors are no longer tolerated by part of the public. “It went too far and it backfired on the TV channel and the show's producers,” remarks Patrick White. If people need to change their minds, they no longer accept any form of bullying, he says.    

5. Pointe-aux-Trembles convenience store fined $30,000

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Photo: Coralie Hodgson, Métro Média

The Tribunal of the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux imposed an administrative monetary penalty of $30,000 on a Pointe-aux-Trembles convenience store in July for selling alcoholic beverages acquired “not in accordance with his licence”. If the two parties have agreed on the sanction, the manager of the establishment believes that the negotiated fine was far too high. 
 

6. After 13 rejected purchase offers, this family is still struggling to find a home 

Photo: Josie Desmarais/Metro

We learned in March that a couple was unable to find a house in Greater Montreal to the point where they questioned their plan to have a second child. The two thirty-somethings claimed to have submitted at least 13 purchase offers, all of which were refused. According to data from the Association professionnelle des courtiers immobiliers du Québec (APCIQ) for the month of February, single-family homes saw their median price climb to $550,000 in Greater Montreal. This represented a 22% increase from 2021. 

Inflation and real estate 

For Martine St-Victor, the difficulty of accessing property “makes real estate an object of covetousness like never before”. Remarks supported by Patrick White, who considers that the rise in inflation and mortgage rates explains this interest. 

Thus, contrary to the Canadian Press, which claims that the Freedom Convoy demonstrators in Ottawa are the news of the year, for the UQAM professor, it is rather the rising cost of living. &nbsp ;

“This is what everyone is talking to me about right now. This is what people will be talking about over the Yule log, turkey and tourtière on December 24 and 25. Real estate buying, renovations, rising rents and cost of living, inflation in general has really hit people this year,” he adds.

7. TLMEP: Sarahmée breaks the silence on the death of her brother Karim Ouellet 

Photo: Josie Desmarais/Metro

Nearly three months after her brother – Karim Ouellet – was found dead in his music studio, rapper Sarahmée broke the silence by returning to the event during her appearance on the show Everyone in speak. During the interview, the rapper highlighted the rain of tributes that her brother received upon the announcement of his death. While the circumstances surrounding his death were not known at this time, a coroner's inquest concluded that the entertainer died of diabetic ketoacidosis, setting the date of death around November 15, 2021. The body was found two months later, i.e. January 17, 2022. 

A little embarrassment 

For Martine St-Victor, the death of Karim Ouellet was a pain that was experienced collectively. “In sadness, in emotion, we put differences aside,” she summarizes. 

For Patrick White, this tragedy shows how difficult it is for Quebec to fully understand mental health issues. “There was a question mark [surrounding his death]. We waited months for the coroner's report,” he recalls. elsewhere. “We kept ourselves a little embarrassed; it's part of the DNA of the Quebec media not to talk about the private life of artists unless there is information that comes from a trial, as in the case of Gibert Rozon, or from publications coming social networks.” 

8. The largest T&T supermarket is coming to Montreal

Photo: CNW Group/Loblaw Companies Limited

Canada's largest Asian supermarket chain opened its largest store in Montreal in mid-December. Created in 1993 in British Columbia by an immigrant of Taiwanese origin, and acquired by Loblaw in 2009, the chain already had 30 branches in Canada, but none in Quebec. The opening of the Quebec branch was originally announced earlier in 2022, but was ultimately pushed back as the site was used as a COVID-19 vaccination location. 

9. Absence of big stars at “Big Brother Celebrities” is causing a stir

Photo: Screenshot

Reality TV is sure to fascinate Métro readers. Following the launch of the second season of Big Brother Celebritieson January 9, 2022, several Internet users made fun of the fact that the majority of the participants were little known to the general public. Three months later, it was finally the video game world champion Stéphanie Harvey who won the grand prize worth $160,000. 

10. Why can't we buy the mugs from “District31”?

Photo: Personal Collection

A television phenomenon that started in 2016, the show District31 ended on April 22, 2022. One of the recurring questions on social networks surrounding this production concerned the famous mugs of District31. Indeed, several Internet users wanted to obtain these mugs with the effigy of the Greater Montreal Police Department, but they were difficult to find. Unfortunately for the latter, no product distribution network has been established, even if suppliers have shown interest. 

A popular success 

“Television remains the medium that brings people together the most,” argues Martine St-Victor. For her, the craze for District31 mugs is reminiscent of the craze for coffee mugs Central Perk from the popular Friends series or for Eddie Murphy's Mumford High School t-shirt in the movie Beverly Hills Cop. “Nearly 40 years later, this t-shirt is still popular, says the strategist. These are classic pieces.”   

Patrick White is one of the people who watched the District31 series religiously.. “It's an intelligent program on the backstage of the police world in Montreal, but quite stuck on the news with a lot of twists”, he maintains.  

According to him, the popular success of this production shows that the Quebec population still values ​​content from here and in French. “It's a very good move for French-language Quebec TV, which is still relevant today,” he said.  

However, finding the right distribution platforms remains a challenge. “Young people don't want to pay for cable, so there are going to be more and more streaming platforms.” 

2022, in the eyes of Patrick White 

Recalling that people need to breathe after more than two years of the pandemic, Patrick White explains that the he year 2022 has taught us that media coverage cannot only be focused on anxiety-provoking news.  

“It is clear that the media will have to focus more on positive news. You can't keep disseminating numbers on COVID-19 on a daily basis without creating a form of generalized anxiety or even a generalized rejection [of the media].”

Need to focus on solution journalism, talk big issues, do big interviews, do surveys, do data journalism . 

Patrick White, professor and head of the Bachelor of Journalism program at UQAM

Patrick White is also concerned that a large segment of the population is now avoiding watching news reports news. “It is not a good sign for democracy when people are uninformed or misinformed on social media. We see it with TikTok. It has become a search engine for many young people; there is a scourge of misinformation within TikTok right now and that is very dangerous for the new generation.”