The end of 2017 came with some bad news for many local residents throughout the Ottawa area: their local papers would be closing down.
This was the result of Postmedia buying many of the local papers owned by the Torstar newspaper chain.
Local papers like the one I grew up reading – The Kanata Kourier Standard – closed their doors and laid off dozens of journalists.
Unfortunately, this is becoming all too familiar.
Those who stand to be impacted the most are everyday citizens who rely on journalists to provide accurate information about important issues like local governance.
Sure, we all know the guy at the coffee shop who heard from a friend about a particular issue. While he may be accurate sometimes, even a broken clock is right twice a day.
Even in metropolitan centres like Ottawa, newspapers are shutting down. The daily Metro paper is the latest victim of the recent cutbacks.
Many municipalities post updates on their websites or Facebook pages for residents. This helps, but what happens when a municipality makes a mistake? Do we expect them to broadcast their mistake on Facebook for all to see? Doubtful.
We need people who will ask tough questions of our elected officials.
Without journalists, people won’t know about important issues going on right in their own community.
You may wake up one day and find out what your property tax increase will be when the bill comes in the mail with no warning.
Although there are other papers in town, less voices are never a good thing.
We’re lucky here in the Pontiac because we’re served by several local papers.
These papers cover important issues like community events, local governments and they keep an eye on the private sector at a local level as well.
If something were to happen to our local papers, residents shouldn’t hold their breath waiting for Le Droit or the Ottawa Citizen to cover the minutiae of local council meetings.
One of the main reasons for the less-than-rosy media landscape is the shifting nature of news itself.
Most people don’t pay for news. They see articles shared on their social media feeds and are able to access it and read it for free.
Newspapers are trying harder than ever to increase the amount of eyeballs on their web pages so they can entice more money from advertisers.
As a result, people have grown accustomed to being able to get their news for free. If people aren’t paying for news, that means that there isn’t enough money to pay journalists.
Less journalists means less information for the public when it comes to important issues.
If you’re reading this, odds are you’re a paying consumer of news. And for that, we thank you.
We will continue to fulfill our end of the bargain by providing quality local content to keep you in the loop in the upcoming year.
Chris Lowrey
