If you’re reading this column, then I take my hat off to you, sir or ma’am. That’s because you, gentle reader, are supporting your community newspaper.
Oh, it may not seem like much, sitting there wherever you are, comfortably digesting the news, arts and opinions from Squamish journalists and writers. But by being part of this paper’s readership, buying it at your local supermarket, getting a subscription or even browsing the online version, you are helping to not only keep a grand tradition alive, but also helping those self-same writers feed their families.
Every week I read how another newspaper (or dozen) is shutting down, or merging its newsroom with another paper and laying off hardworking folks. The newspaper business is a scary industry today, thanks to the Internet and the emergence of blogging and the ability for just about anyone to try and report the news or express an opinion disguised as news.
Papers that have been around for decades… I mean, major well-known entities that had big-time clout… shuttered, vanished into some misty twilight. And their educated journalists are now brushing up their resumes for jobs in advertising and marketing because new jobs are scarce.
Thankfully, community papers like The Squamish Chief have been more or less spared from the fates of the dailies in the major markets, thanks to not being saturated with options. But, advertisers are choosier with their ad dollars these days, and, everyone in the newsroom knows or has worked with people who have lost their papers and jobs in communities just like Squamish, so nobody is under any illusions that things can’t change in a heartbeat, depending on the economy, advertisers and, yes, readers just like you. Because it would certainly be a shame to no longer be able to get real local news and opinions about Squamish issues like LNG, the Oceanfront and our council chambers, written by people living, working and playing right in the community (no offense to the CBC, Global or CTV news, but they can’t cover a community as in-depth as a local paper).
It’d be a shame to no longer smell the newsprint as you rifle through the pages, see familiar faces in the images and learn new things about the place you call home. So, please, stay involved, send in letters, send in photos and express your opinions about the stories you read online in the comment section. But most of all, thanks for being a newspaper reader.
