I certainly wasn’t alive when THE EQUITY was first published in Bryson on June 7, 1883. My great-grandfathers, Adam and Moses Stewart, lived only a few kilometres away in Dunraven, and I hope they got to read that first edition.
Not only is it the newspaper’s birthday this week, but it’s also been one year since I became owner and publisher of this local institution. Much has changed in one year, let alone 143 years, and I wanted to take a moment to reflect.
At THE EQUITY, all content decisions are made by the talented Sophie Kuijper Dickson, whose usual space I am occupying this week. Sophie, K.C., Caleb, and the production team at THE EQUITY (Liz, Breanna and Dave) have been nominated for 12 Quebec Community Newspaper Association awards this year—a testament to the high-quality journalism a local, independent newspaper can produce.
As publisher, my role is to support the business and operational side of THE EQUITY. These accomplishments don’t usually win awards, but they are worth celebrating nonetheless.
Over the past 12 months, we’ve expanded the newspaper to 12 pages, launched new and expanded features, and were even forced to shift our publication day to Thursdays. Call it a throwback—we launched as a Thursday paper 143 years ago.
We also launched an iOS app, built a highly read newsletter, and are in the middle of digitizing and releasing more than 400,000 photos taken over decades of reporting in the Pontiac. Your feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and we appreciate your ongoing support.
The next 12 months will bring even more change to THE EQUITY as we continue to serve our readers’ needs.
Soon, you’ll be able to listen to the stories on our website. This is a feature most large news websites offer, which improves accessibility for those with vision impairments. We are currently training our AI to provide a voice that clearly lets you know it’s not human, but can also pronounce “Quyon” properly.
We will also be leveraging custom AI to provide French-language translations of our news content online—both moving forward and for the more than 10,000 articles already on our website. In addition, French-language audio versions of all new stories will be made available.
Lastly, I’m excited to tease that we will be adding new voices to THE EQUITY this fall. Through a program with our three local high schools, THE EQUITY will be working with the youth of the region to help give them a greater voice in this community.
Is it weird to celebrate a newspaper’s birthday? I don’t think so. Whether it’s 40 years (Happy Birthday, Pontiac Journal!) or 143 years, our ability to adapt and change is absolutely worthy of celebration.
Jon Stewart