Most Canadians are happy to say goodbye to 2020. It hasn’t been our best year.
But, looking back, it has been a news-filled year, and the News-Optimist has helped bring that news to our readers both in print and online.
At a time when people can’t circulate like they used to, online information has been sought after and consumed even more than past years, evidenced by the nearly three million views of News-Optimist online stories in 2020.
Here’s a look back at the most-read stories on www.newsoptimist.ca.
Our most-viewed story was not a local story, but one that had the attention of all Canadians who take pride and a proprietary interest in the famed Tudor jets and their crew. The most-read story was “Victim of Snowbirds crash in Kamloops identified.”
A short piece of information we shared from our sister news outlet, Castanet, was among the several stories we carried detailing how one member of the Canadian Armed Forces died and another was injured after a Snowbird jet crashed in a residential area of Kamloops, B.C. It occurred in May, sadly, while the team was on a cross-country tour meant to impart hope during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The short story read, “The fatal victim of the Snowbirds crash in Kamloops has been identified as Capt. Jennifer Casey, sources have confirmed to Castanet News.
“Casey was the public relations officer for the Snowbirds.
“Her family has been notified of the crash.
“Her biography says she joined the Canadian Armed Forces in August 2014 as a direct entry officer. Prior to joining she spent several years working in broadcast radio as a reporter, anchor, and producer in both Halifax, NS and Belleville, ON.
“She joined the Snowbirds in November 2018.”
Through our partnership with other Glacier Media news outlets as well as The Canadian Press, we were able to publish numerous stories, photos and videos from the tragic event, but it was the short story above that put a name and a face to a Canadian all would mourn that drew our readers’ in their tens of thousands.
Not surprisingly, stories about the coronavirus pandemic and its resultant disease, COVID-19, were consumed voraciously by our readers in 2020 and will continue to be of top interest as the world-changing story carries over into the new year. The most-read COVID-19 story on our website in 2020 was a Maidstone area man’s description of the symptoms he experienced, written by The Canadian Press and published on our website March 26.
“No appetite, no smell, Saskatchewan athlete recounts falling ill with COVID-19” begins as follows:
“The possibility of having COVID-19 started to become real for Brock Weston as he drove home to Saskatchewan.
“The Wisconsin college student had had fever sweats the night before. A stuffy nose and sore throat he thought were from dust in the air or maybe, at worst, a cold or flu had been hanging around for a couple of days.
“‘I had no appetite. I couldn’t smell. My eyes were hurting,’ the 25-year-old told The Canadian Press in a telephone interview Wednesday.
“‘I thought, ‘OK, maybe this is a little more than just the flu.’’
“Weston, who plays hockey and studies biology and chemistry at Marian University, had been packing for his trip home last week when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned Canadians abroad to hurry back.”
The story came near the beginning of the pandemic, at a time when Canadians wanted to know what to expect from this new disease.
Weston recovered, but he said COVID-19 certainly slowed him down.
“I had absolutely no sense of smell and no taste. I had no appetite for five days. I lost over 10 pounds,” he said. “I kind of got this migraine that just carried over four or five days that made my eyes just hurt. Couldn’t look to left, right, up, down.” Read the story here.
Since then, many more locals have experienced COVID-19 first hand, and, here in the North West zone, 19 had died as of Tuesday.
Daily reports on COVID-19 case numbers continue to be among the most read online stories on www.newsoptimist.ca, as well as related stories from across Canada and the world.
Next in the ratings was a short but sad story that obviously tugged at the heartstrings of readers. “Woman jumps from Saskatoon bridge” elicited numerous comments on our Facebook page expressing sadness at such a tragedy. Another short story, but one that resonated with Saskatchewan.
"Possible COVID-19 transmission at North Battleford Walmart" published May 31 and "COVID-19 death was in the Battlefords area" published March 3 were the next two most-read stories. Both these stories seemed to bring home that Saskatchewan wasn’t to be spared, despite its comparatively sparce population.Alice Grove, 75, died at Battlefords Union Hospital in North Battleford, where she had tested positive for COVID-19, one of the two deaths first reported in Saskatchewan.
While the News-Optimist covers plenty of good news as well as not so good, it is often the not so good that gets the most attention. That following stories, in order of views, were the next most-read.
“RCMP charge adult male for second degree murder” - read the story here.
“Onion Lake Cree Nation boards up suspected meth houses, runs out gang members” - read the story here.
“Rural resident brutally attacked after strangers ask for help with a stuck vehicle” - read the story here.
“RCMP seek suspect in theft of firearms from NB Canadian Tire store” - read the story here.
“RCMP say watch out for small town crime spree suspects” - read the story here.
"Three deceased in house fire on 99th Street” - read the story here.
With the addition of a Local Journalism Initiative reporter to the area, thanks to a federal program aimed at bolstering news coverage at a time of financial constraints in the industry, two of the stories above have helped bring to the public more information on gang-related crime in the Northwest and how courts and police are dealing with it. This coverage continues and stories resulting from the program here and across Canada, which any news outlet in Canada can reprint free of charge, are well read on www.newsoptimist.ca.
We now move on to 2021. Hopefully there are fewer tragedies to report, and continued recovery from the pandemic to celebrate.
