Let’s call this last issue of The News Review a canary in a coal mine.
It is no secret that for some time both of Yorkton’s newspapers have been owned by the same company.
And it is no secret that the newspaper business, both locally and in general, has been in decline for some time.
In a small market, such as Yorkton, perhaps it was inevitable the city would not support two weekly newspapers.
That is, of course, of great concern to those of us in the business, but it should be of concern to everybody.
There is an old idiom attributed to the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle that states “nature abhors a vacuum.”
This is certainly true of the news business. In the absence of actual information, the news hole will be filled with something. It could be rumour, innuendo or outright disinformation, but when something happens, it is going to be talked about.
The proliferation of the Internet and the decline of newspapers has been great for the disinformation business. The online world is full of websites that purport to report news, but actually shamelessly shill for political or social ideologies, without evidence and fact.
Then there are the news aggregators. One study indicated that traditional newspapers still account for as much as 85 per cent of actual news content on the Web. We do not know how accurate that is, but even a cursory look at what is swirling around out there backs up the premise that a good deal of original news copy is still generated by traditional newsrooms.
Some aggregators legitimately pay to republish content. A very few do a combination of original and republished content. But many more just steal the content and drain off advertising revenue. We have actually found articles written by our staff posted on other websites verbatim without attribution.
Then there are the social media sites. Almost every legitimate media outlet now has a presence on Facebook, Twitter and other apps. The idea is to drive readers to our official websites. Some big papers, such as the Globe and Mail, give you a certain amount of free access then try to sell you full access.
All of this dilutes our main source of revenue, which is advertising. Issues get smaller, editorial staff gets cut, sometimes papers die.
You can say, ‘well, that’s business,’ but it is unfortunate, especially in small markets. Without the local newspaper, where will you get local news? Roses and Raspberries? Tim Hortons? How accurate will it be once it is handed down from mouth to mouth like the old telephone game?
Occasionally, in the case of very high profile cases, such as murders, explosions or missing children, a big city paper will step in, a provincial or national broadcaster might briefly touch on it.
And newspapers still care about things like truth, fairness and balance, something in very short supply indeed on social media.
Finally, there is the historical record. They say things on the Internet never go away, but while that may be technically true, it is still only newspapers that are properly archiving the news history of small towns and rural areas. In order to archive something, it must first be produced.
The canary is ailing, but we will continue to produce high quality local news in our remaining publication, Yorkton This Week.
Communities such as Yorkton should be fighting to keep newspapers alive. That may seem somewhat self-serving. After all, if we cannot find a way to overcome market forces, however powerful, perhaps we don’t deserve to be in business. But we are not just a business, we are also an important public service.
It has been an honour to serve the Yorkton community with The News Review.
