Friday, Sept. 15.
That is the day that the face of community journalism in Ontario was slapped, punched, scratched and clawed into something unrecognizable.
Metroland Media announced it has sought bankruptcy protection and will cease the print publication of its weekly community newspapers, moving to an online-only model.
Included in the announcement was news of 605 people losing their jobs – about two-thirds of the Metroland workforce. Sixty-eight of those are journalists.
Those laid off will also receive no severance, as “the company does not have sufficient funds” to pay them.
Spared in the bankruptcy are the organization’s daily newspapers, including the Waterloo Region Record.
“The media industry continues to face existential challenges, largely because digital tech giants have used their dominant positions to take the vast majority of the advertising revenue in Canada,” said a statement issued by Metroland last week.
“The Company has determined that in order to survive as a going concern, it must end its weekly paper and flyer business and convert to a digital strategy.”
As someone who formerly worked for Metroland – this paper was owned by Metroland from 2000 to 2019, when it was purchased by Midwestern Newspapers – I can tell you that while the apparent demise of Metroland is shocking, it is far from unexpected.
In 2017, Metroland was adamant that “print was dead” and a distraction from the online product. Personally, the amount of data reports I had to complete about online traffic, social media impressions, etc. made this editor feel more like an analyst.
As I have said before, we were even told at one point that editorial doesn’t make any money, hence why we had three editorial staff for a handful of papers across our region in 2018.
Metroland took its eye off the proverbial ball – creating content that engaged readers and advertisers – and were shocked to find out it was taken from them.
However, I am not here to vent about my experience at Metroland – I started my career there and met many great people – but rather to lament on the impact this news will have.
This is just the latest in a string of awful events to impact the community newspaper industry.
Last week, 70 more communities have lost their local newspaper. And those are just the communities where Metroland operates. Sept. 13 saw the Glengarry News, a weekly paper in Alexandria (north of Cornwall) publish its final edition after 131 years.
Neil Macdonald, president of the Glengarry News, also cited declining revenues and big tech giants Facebook and Google as reasons for the paper’s closure.
“Each is a sinister outfit,” he said in a story by Steven Warburton on the front page of the Sept. 13 issue of the Glengarry News. “They leach off of media companies and where they won’t declare themselves as USA media outlets, they side-step the burden of USA libel laws.”
While there are many reasons why newspapers cease publication in today’s society – declining revenues, poor content strategy, mismanagement, etc. – one thing that is common is the presence of social media.
Social media has its purposes, but recent actions by Meta (owner of Facebook) and Google to block Canadian news from appearing on their platforms is only adding to the problem they created.
With the closure of these 71 weekly papers, residents will have less access to news. No longer will residents in those communities be able to pick up a copy of their weekly paper to learn of coming events or what is going on at town hall. No longer will they be able to read features about local residents who have accomplished great things. No longer will they be able to pick up the paper and be informed about their community.
And with Meta and Google blocking access to news on their platforms – it is censorship, plain and simple – all because of the Online News Act, which asks these multi-billion-dollar companies to compensate media outlets for their content, it’s a dark day for local journalism.
What I can tell you is this: Midwestern Newspapers is independently owned and will not be impacted by the Metroland announcement. We are supported by great readers, subscribers and advertisers. And we are not going anywhere.
If you are able, I would strongly encourage you to support this newspaper – or any local newspaper, for that matter – by advertising or subscribing.
Why, you ask? One of our reporters, Cory Bilyea, heard a great quote during an interview last week that has stuck with me every day since.
“If we don’t support our local paper, who is going to support us?”
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Mike Wilson is the editor of Midwestern Newspapers. Comments and feedback are welcome at mwilson@midwesternnewspapers.com.
