The Evolution of the Winnipeg Sun

The Winnipeg Sun founded in 1980 was an act of defiance that came from the closure of the Winnipeg Tribune in the same year. A number of business people and slew of Tribune staffers helped create the tabloid which grew in stages. Initially, all black and white and only a few days a week, it grew to colour and seven days a week. People might forget just how thick a Sunday paper was. And yes, it was the first Sunday paper in Winnipeg. By 1983, the local ownership sold the paper to Quebecor which had experience running tabloids. It was incorporated in the Sun chain in 1999. By 2015, the Sun group was sold to Postmedia which included the Winnipeg Sun. In 2024, the Winnipeg was once against brought under local ownership when the Sun and papers were sold to former Conservative cabinet minister Kevin Klein.

As I noted back when the news occurred, this means Winnipeg is unique in most of Canada in that it has two locally owned daily newspapers in the city. That can't be said anywhere else in the west. In fact, Winnipeg was one of the only cities where an underdog newspapers folded only for another newspaper to emerge immediately.

The early Sun editorial leanings were center right but it had a reputation of factual reporting. Under different ownership, it has maintained credibility in reporting and still leans center right. The present ownership is unapologetically right leaning in editorial. The sports department despite the loss of Ted Wyman too young is still reporting on hockey and football. I'd wage more readers value that coverage first in their hearts.

It is very likely that buying the Sun has Klein working every part of the job. He has leaned heavily on columnists in Winnipeg as well as the National Post for content. It is unlikely that Klein wants to use the federal program to hire journalist but ad money has so dried up that it is likely all media in Canada might face extinction. The large international companies scrape the Internet and use AI to produce information that does not credit the or pay for the source of that information. Moreover, they control the search engines used to find local news. They hold all the levers of power over even some of the larger news services. The goal is to grab all the ad money they can while lifting information from content creators.

The Free Press and the Sun continue to carve out niches. There is nothing wrong with having a political slant but important to divide the paper into news, analysis and opinion and make sure they can be identified. Some newspapers such as the National Post and the Sun chain across Canada lean heavily on columnists. The Sun continues an affiliation with Postmedia and sometimes this results in a lot of federal coverage which might be a bit too much for a local paper.

While there are some female columnists at The Sun, they are really outnumbered. The Free Press faces the same problem. It is possible to have content that will appeal to younger and female audiences but it has to be presented consistently. For young people, it could be the comics, entertainment news, advice columns, horoscopes and sports. The trick is to have stuff unique in your paper. It isn't all political opinion columns.

The quickest way for the Sun to reclaim readers is to focus on Jets and Blue Bombers coverage beyond what they are doing now. Klein already has a video discussion on politics. It would seem a natural extension to do sports. I have pointed out how amateur sports is covered by WDAY/Fargo Forum/Grand Forks Herald. We are so poor in coverage in this area but they cover in North Dakota so well. The amount of sponsors for this coverage seems diverse in the U.S.

Assuming that the Sun wishes to be a local paper in either print or digital into the future, it might wish to partner with other media. An example at the local level is Global News and CJOB. Both of the aforementioned are different units of the same company but they both contribute to content over both platforms and can be monetized as such. This does not mean companies like CJOB and Global News are not stuck in the perpetual layoffs of news media. The hoovering of ad dollars by Google and others and the stealing of content by AI has meant all media is under threat. Some big companies like New York Times have made deals for content used by AI. The truth is that all content used by AI companies needs to be paid for and the courts are likely to weigh in. It has come to the point that there are true security concerns about AI harvesting information and stripping it of it's sources. Making big money off of this is hurting major industries.

The Sun needs to carve out what will stand out locally, move beyond politics and cover news and sports in ways no one else does. Newspapers have to find ways to reach out and monetize beyond "if it bleeds, it leads" headlines. Even Internet users are getting tired of clickbait that feels false. Winnipeg needs two strong and competitive newspapers. We are very lucky having two local ones. We will continue to have them so long as they continue to adapt and develop their content. It will be up to the government to protect content creators from having their work taken and monetized by international companies.