Wednesday, January 26, 2022

The Changes in Community Newspapers

Five newspapers are now the Winnipeg Free Press Community Review. The five were the The Lance, The Herald, The Metro, The Times, The Headliner and the Sou'Wester

Some of the papers started as early as 1917.

The Herald was established in 1917 (originally the Elmwood Advertiser)

The Lance was established in 1931

The Metro was established in 1973

The Times was established in 1973

The Headliner was established in 1992

The Sou'Wester was established in 2009.

In 2004, the Winnipeg Free Press parent company took over the local newspapers as part of a Manitoba regional consolidation. FP now owns a number of publications in the province.

Each of the papers had a reporter and sports reporter or about 20 staff all told. The new east and west regional papers maintain their staff which looks to be around three reporters each. 

Winnipeg Free Press is one of that last major independent papers in Canada with a daily print circulation running six days a week. It has major assets within Manitoba including the Brandon Sun and The Carillon in Steinbach along with Derksen Printers.

Local news has never been more important even if it is what is happening on your street. The advertising though has bled away to Facebook, Google and others. The new deal with Google paying for content they use could near $100 million to $150 million. Major digital companies require content and if everything is increasingly firewalled, it means less money. We don't know how much money for FP Publications but it was zero before the deal while they freely used material they didn't pay for.

The new East and West Review will still be available freely to people in Winnipeg along with the ads for that region. It will also be included in Free Press home delivery and online digitally. Hyperlocal stories remain one of the areas that covered by a lot of media. In Winnipeg, it is good that at least a dozen are paid for weekly work in this area and that their contributions remain archived for the years to come.

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