I’m typing this out on a busy-as-always Monday afternoon, and while I’ve come to appreciate the ‘controlled chaos’ that our jobs bring on days like this, it’s disheartening to know that just three days ago, one of the province’s most well-known and longstanding newspapers closed its offices forever.
The Moose Jaw Times-Herald had been a mainstay in the Saskatchewan community news scene since 1889. It was there at the turn of two new centuries, and it shared with its readers all the news that came out of both World Wars, and during its lifespan, tried to give people all the news they could ever want.
It started as a weekly in its infancy before switching to a daily in 1909.
Now, 128 years later, the Times-Herald is but a memory. A ‘sign of the times’ decision as it relates to print media and circulation, no doubt.
On Friday, staff shed tears and ate farewell cake marking the end of the newspaper. The cake even featured the long-time -30- symbol that many print journalists use to end a story.
I can’t help but feel for my fellow media contemporaries with the closure of the Times-Herald, and those feelings are something of a mixed bag. There is definitely sadness at the fact that such a longstanding institution of news is gone, but also anger as it relates to community media being largely forgotten by our federal government when it comes to handing out some much-needed dollars.
There’s also confusion as it relates to the closure, because I wonder why the Times-Herald didn’t just convert to being a weekly publication. I mean, think about it; just over 32,000 people make up Moose Jaw, and depending on who you ask, that’s either a ‘big town’ or a ‘small city’. The fact that residents had a daily source of news at all for over 100 years is astounding in itself. But perhaps there is some number crunching at play here that we’re not privy to, hence why it was closed altogether.
I probably know what a lot of you may be saying, and that’s the whole “Print media is dead or dying” stance. The weight of that argument only holds up depending on what type of media you’re referring to. Certainly, daily newspapers in bigger urban areas are feeling the crunch to “go tech” and put all of their stuff online. Weekly community newspapers, however, still have much value as a printed form of news.
The fact is that advertisers believe in the value of print, and surveys taken by a number of organizations have said that readers still value print over something that can be read online because anything can be floated out into cyberspace and labeled as “news”, whereas what’s said in the pages of a newspaper have to be confirmed and quoted correctly before it’s published for reader consumption.
The closure of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald was another sad sign of the times as daily newspapers face growing challenges in the face of tech-driven, always-in-your-hands digital media. Going tech and giving your readers access to your articles, news and photos online is obviously the norm in 2017, and that’s precisely what The Outlook did, but I happen to believe that people still want a physical newspaper to hold in their hands instead of the latest overpriced gadget from Apple to read their local news.
Working as a reporter in a rural Saskatchewan area brings its own unique set of obstacles at times, and The Outlook is certainly not immune to the challenges faced by other weeklies in the province, but we’ve always prided ourselves on being one of the most community-oriented newspapers found anywhere. We tell YOUR stories about YOUR community so that YOU can be as well-informed as possible about what’s happening in your backyard.
We also don’t thrive or survive without YOU.
Community newspapers are the lifeblood of information and advertising for small towns and regional areas. If you’re trying to get the word out about something, you advertise and ask your local reporter to give it some press to hype it. If you’re a new or existing business owner, you need to let people know about your brand and what you can offer.
Support your community newspapers, people. Buy or renew a subscription, advertise locally, and tell others to do the same. Social media is an awesome and necessary tool, but 'likes' don't pay the bills.
You might not agree with everything said in your local paper, but I'm willing to bet you'd miss us if we disappeared from your mailbox or newsstand.
For this week, that’s been the Ruttle Report.
