THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT YOUR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER

THERE IS MORE GOOD NEWS IN THE WORLD THAN BAD

“There is no substitute for a local newspaper that is doing its job.” – Warren Buffett

Richard was in the middle of replying to an email when a ding sounded on his cell phone. Without looking at his watch he knew it was 3:12, the time every day his digital newspaper COLLINGWOOD TODAY arrived.

Richard grew up in Collingwood, however, he had moved from there many years ago but still  has a weekend home close by.   

The digital newspaper keeps him in touch with Collingwood and tells him what is going on including local sports, politics and community events. It also has stories about his former classmates. Sadly, some of these stories are appearing more often in the obituary section. 

We humans are social animals and one of our biggest needs is to feel we belong; to be a part of a community. 

One’s community has many pieces: family, friends, faith groups, neighbours, local merchants, people walking on the streets with their pets, local leaders and heroes, as well as local characters.

Our sense of community is enhanced by the organizations and the people in it: where we work and play, schools, arenas, gyms, service clubs, interest group gatherings, community centres and the local library. This also includes places where people meet and chat such as the local Tim Hortons or Starbucks. 

Much of what is happening in a community is reported in the local newspaper: town council meetings, sports events, volunteer initiatives, and general things of interest.

Starting in the 1960s and 1970s, newspapers and print media started to go through tumultuous times.  

In 1980 the Kent Commission focused on the concentration of media ownership. There was concern over the fact that most of the media were controlled by a small number of companies.

According to a story written in 2017 by Thomas Walkom, Jessica Porter and Tim Creely (and now in the Canadian Encyclopedia), it was reported in 1981 that major newspapers were at their peak. Eighty-nine percent of adults read at least one newspaper every week.  

In the 1980s the major papers started to decline. However, during the 1980s community newspapers started to boom and the major papers started to buy them. The Toronto Star through Metroland, and the Thompson chain were two of the big buyers, as was Sun Media.

Many local publishers/owners were families who had owned the papers for years. They were now faced with potential major capital costs and more competition. Selling to the big chains presented a great opportunity to get their money out. 

As a result, many of the local papers were now being run from afar and the community newspapers lost much of their local flavour.

In the 1990s, the print media sector changed again with the advancement of technology – initially TV, personal computers, and later the internet – bringing with it the advent of social media. Now anyone could be a publisher and people had access to news and stories from around the world, merely by punching one or two keys.

People flocked to social media and readership and advertising revenues for print media plummeted. 

These changes affected all print media and by 2000 Thompson had sold off all of their papers with the exception of the Globe and Mail. Both the Star and Metroland went bankrupt, but kept going, in part, because of digital editions.  

Both the Star and the Globe newspapers continue to struggle and readership continues to decline in spite of help from digital versions.

Most of the current newspaper readers are over 60, while very few of those under 30 read a newspaper.   

Torstar, the parent company of the Toronto Star newspaper, which was once worth an estimated $2.2 billion, was eventually bought out of bankruptcy for $65 million.

This huge shift is not just a local phenomena, and apart from Asia, is world-wide. Many of the big newspapers around the world are owned by multi-billionaires: Rupert Murdoch, and Jeff Bezos to name just two.  

All of these changes have created many issues including distrust and concern about accurate news reporting. 

These changes have also created a news void as people in smaller communities still want to know what is happening locally. According to stats on the internet, there are still 1000 community newspapers across Canada and new groups and models have been created to fill this local news void. This includes a group out of Sault Ste Marie called Village Media.They produce 34 papers, including Collingwood Today. https://www.villagemedia.ca/

A recent piece from Erica Engel, the editor of Collingwood Today states, “Local Journalism is our purpose and our passion. We cover the stories that matter the most: The ones right in your neighbourhood. Our ultimate goal is to produce the most outstanding local journalism possible. More in-depth features, more resources to chase down facts and discover the truth.”

The Editor-in-Chief of these 34 papers, Michael Friscolanti, states, “The goal of local journalism is to help make your hometown an even better place to live, work and play. Our job is to be your watchdog in the halls of power, to shine a spotlight on problems that need fixing and to provide accurate, reliable coverage when something goes wrong…There is also plenty of space for the softer stories that make us smile and laugh and beam with pride.

“Our news outlet is not the least bit shy about celebrating hometown triumphs or highlighting the many things that make your town so amazing: inspiring volunteers, talented athletes, generous businesses owners, beloved landmarks.

“Everyday stories are the real magic of local journalism. Why? because they strengthen the community and each story reminds us that we share things in common. That we are all in this together. That we all belong.”

At 3:15 Richard finished his email reply and clicked on Collingwood Today. It seemed as if there were more stories and links and notices than normal. For fun he counted them. There were 52. 

The stories by local reporters that day included: 

• Upcoming events  
• Steps being taken by Grey Highlands to improve pedestrian safety
• Matching lighthouses being erected in Collingwood’s downtown.This story included a picture. 
• A letter stating more long term care was needed in the Collingwood area. 
• A local public school, Connaught, was applying for a $40,000 bicycle grant
• The location of temporary road closures   
• The price of gas at a number of local stations, and of course,
• Obituaries (Thankfully he did not know anyone.)

While he had no interest in many of the stories, the 12 or so he read made him feel closer to the community.   

On the plus side, this decrease in overall print media has also resulted in an increase in the number of digitally distributed NEWSLETTERS. Most are self published. Typically they have a singular focus on what is happening in a specific area such as climate change, population growth, political issues, personal finance or health. 

In spite of their size and audience, many of these letters and local newspapers are being recognized. In the U.S. in Chicago and Santa Cruz local small community journalists have  recently won Pulitzer prizes and in Canada some local papers and their writers have been nominated for a Michener Award, Canada’s premier journalism award.

There are also the CJF-Jackman Awards for Excellence in Journalism resulting in making an impact on the community. 

There are separate awards for large and small media. 

These digital newspapers, some of which are run as not-for-profit organizations, are less costly and environmentally friendly  than print media, however, they still need money to run them.

Their revenues typically come from a mix of sources including advertising, government grants for local stories, donations, and increasingly, voluntary revenues from subscribers. 

There have been a few recent stories about an uptick in the number of local news journals. This includes the reactivation of a community newspaper in the Indigenous community of Haida Gawaii, in order to help communication between smaller communities. This increase suggests more people are reading them with the ensuing benefit of feeling they are part of a community. That too, is Good News.

Till next time, 

Chris Snyder, Climate Optimist 

Email: snyderchris74@gmail.com  

Stories of Good News and Hope: http://chrissnyder.ca/