Three Metro Vancouver Papers to Shutter

Three Metro Vancouver papers to close in a few months

Moving back to Vancouver it was gut-wrenching to see local media being decimated because of a lack of money. 

The Georgia Straight was taken over by a company that immediately fired the existing staff, which made it difficult for the new bosses to hire; the Vancouver Courier became Vancouver is Awesome with an online presence only; CTV regional stations in British Columbia were shuttered and TV anchors gave tearful goodbyes on air.

And suddenly News 1130 was taken off the air, and it was a shock to many listeners as the radio station that had given crucial traffic reports "on the ones", every 10 minutes.

Burnaby Now to close by April 21

Now three more community papers can be added to the list of the dead. Parent company Glacier Media has announced Burnaby Now and the New Westminster Record will close no later than April 21, and Tri-City News will close its doors by May 21.

In a statement, Glacier Media said in part that it "explored all possible options to maintain operations" but the industry's "ongoing financial challenges have made it unsustainable."

The three publications had been serving their respective communities for more than 40 years and transitioned to online only in August 2023.

"We're incredibly proud of the work we've done and we're so grateful to our hardworking staff who have made these publications so special, and to our loyal readers and advertisers who have supported us over the years," said publisher Lara Graham.

The news worries New Westminster Mayor Patrick Johnstone.

"I don't know what it means when a community can't tell its stories anymore, when there's no record of our day-to-day, never mind the history of our city," he said.

Johnstone concerned about lack of local media

Johnstone wondered how New Westminster could some how continue to disseminate information through traditional media.

"I don't know what the solution is here, but we have to rethink what media means to us and what journalism means to us as a country and as a community, because this is not sustainable," he said.

"We have to be able to talk to each other through traditional media, or through every media that works that includes an aspect of journalism to it and separates the truth from what the algorithms do to us, which is push us towards division and push us towards mistruth."

Thirty years ago when I went into this industry, never did it ever cross my mind that so many news outlets would literally fall off a cliff into the abyss. But now it is the reality, because hardly any news companies has managed to figure out how to make money from good journalism.

Community papers are what keeps neighbourhoods informed, and that's how these stories get regional and even national attention.

Who else is going to keep city councils and government officials in check, expose corruption or wrongdoing, or tell good news stories that make communities proud?

It's a sad day when news outlets close, and three community papers shuttering is three too many.