My perspective - Portrait of a newspaper

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Published on Friday, April 27, 2018

By Kate Jackman-Atkinson

Neepawa Banner & Press

I heard an analogy a couple of weeks ago; if daily papers are the Titanic and weekly papers are the lifeboats, the weeklies need to distance themselves enough that they don’t get sucked down. It may be hyperbole, but it’s rooted in some truth.

Like the “car industry”, the “newspaper industry” encompasses a variety of diverse operations. While the casual reader might know the difference between North American and imported cars, they are probably less knowledgeable about the differences between daily papers and weeklies, also known as community newspapers, beyond their different publication schedules. Most of the coverage about the newspaper industry has focused on daily papers, maybe because they tend to be larger, maybe because owning a daily used to be very profitable and maybe because they are prominent in larger centres were other media is located.

In the lifeboat analogy, dailies may or may not be sinking, but community papers are certainly afloat. While the industry has been impacted by changes, such as the rise in internet advertising, overall, weekly papers have adapted and their owners are optimistic about the future. That’s the conclusion of two recent surveys.

Earlier this year, the ad selling arm of the Saskatchewan and Manitoba community newspaper associations, commissioned a survey which talked to readers in farms, hamlets, villages, towns and small cities in Manitoba.

The survey first found that people are interested in the news. Compared to two years ago, 55 per cent of respondents were spending as much time with the news and another 27 per cent were spending more time. It also found that a lot of people are still getting and reading their community newspaper; 79.6 per cent of respondents received one and 79.2 per cent of respondents personally read or looked into the paper. That’s more than the 2006 national Combase survey, in which 67 per cent of Manitobans reported reading a community paper.

Almost all newspapers rely on advertising and interestingly, community newspaper readers actually like ads in that medium. While 39 per cent of respondents were annoyed by ads online or on social media, 54 per cent said they found ads in community newspapers useful. At 39 per cent, printed ads in community papers were also the most likely to inspire action. Compared to all other forms of media, printed community newspapers were by far readers preferred method of receiving not just the news, but also information about local businesses’ sales and events, as well as government programs.

The second survey was the annual publishers survey done by newspaper consultant Kevin Slimp. The survey has lots of really interesting information about publications in Canada and the US, but a couple of figures stand out. First, the vast majority of newspapers are weekly, 66 per cent, and most are also small, 66 per cent have a circulation below 7,000 copies.

The survey also found that most publications were in relatively good health: 10 per cent reported being very healthy, 38 per cent reported being in relatively good health and 41 per cent reported being not great, but not bad either. Over half also reported being in about the same overall health as they were a year ago.

The newspaper industry may be diverse, but most papers are small, independently-owned weeklies— this isn’t the image of the industry most people have. People still value their community newspapers as a source of both ads and news and owners and publishers remain optimistic about the present and future of their publications.  This is the story that we need to communicate to the public, it is, after all, our story.