In this week乌鸦传媒檚 issue of the readers will likely notice, in the bottom-right corner of the front page, an ad that is a little different than what you are accustomed to seeing.
The black-and-white advertisement is a note written by White Rock resident Chad Skelton, urging other local residents to purchase space in their community newspaper.
The current economic climate has seen businesses in every community shut down amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which, in turn, has affected newspaper advertising.
A former reporter at the Vancouver Sun, Skelton 乌鸦传媒� who is now a journalism professor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University 乌鸦传媒� said he got the idea for the ad from former Sun colleague Frances Bula, who a few weeks ago on Twitter urged people to take out ads that did everything from thank health-care workers and grocery-store staff to simply saying hello to a grandparent who may be stuck indoors and away from family during this period of self-isolation.
乌鸦传媒淚 just thought, 乌鸦传媒極h, I could do that. That will make me feel better,乌鸦传媒櫸谘淮綕 Skelton said.
乌鸦传媒淎nd then I thought, if I乌鸦传媒檓 going to take out an ad anyway, maybe it would be good to take out an ad encouraging other people to take out an ad.
By Friday morning, about a half a dozen local residents had taken Skelton up on his challenge, purchasing ad space in Peace Arch News乌鸦传媒� upcoming Thursday, April 9 edition.
乌鸦传媒淯nder normal circumstances, there乌鸦传媒檚 plenty of ads, plenty of flyers and we get to enjoy (community papers) for free, but we乌鸦传媒檙e in this sort of extreme situation where ads are drying up, so if you want the papers to exist today, and want them to exist tomorrow, you kind of have to step up.乌鸦传媒�
Rick O乌鸦传媒機onnor, president and CEO of Black Press Media 乌鸦传媒� the parent company of Peace Arch News 乌鸦传媒� echoed those statements, adding that the current economic crisis is difficult for businesses like community papers that rely so heavily on advertising revenue, both in print and online.
Revenue has dropped 40 to 50 per cent in two weeks, O乌鸦传媒機onnor said.
Though the particulars of each newspaper are different, O乌鸦传媒機onnor said that, as a general ballpark figure, the cost to print and deliver each edition of the paper is 25 cents per copy printed 乌鸦传媒� a number that does not include overhead or staffing costs.
Peace Arch News乌鸦传媒� circulation is 37,000.
乌鸦传媒淭he double-whammy for newspapers is that the government considers them an essential service, and so they should be, but by the same token, good local journalism costs money.乌鸦传媒�
Skelton said he gets the sense that many people have 乌鸦传媒渜uite a bit of affection乌鸦传媒� for their local media outlets, though there are others who may take them for granted.
乌鸦传媒淎 good way to frame it is, 乌鸦传媒楬ow would you feel if the Peace Arch News didn乌鸦传媒檛 show up next week?乌鸦传媒� Right now, we乌鸦传媒檙e in a position where at least in the short-term, that乌鸦传媒檚 a very real possibility (for many community papers),乌鸦传媒� he said.
乌鸦传媒淭he big provincial, national, metro (news outlets), they do a great job, but they can乌鸦传媒檛 be everywhere. They aren乌鸦传媒檛 covering White Rock city council or Surrey school board on a regular basis. They aren乌鸦传媒檛 covering the debate about dogs on the promenade or talking about raising money for the pier.
乌鸦传媒淚f these papers go away, nobody乌鸦传媒檚 covering (these cities). I think maybe we forget the value of them.乌鸦传媒�
If you value your local community newspaper 乌鸦传媒� and you want it to be around when all this is over 乌鸦传媒� there乌鸦传媒檚 an easy way you can help:
乌鸦传媒� Chad Skelton (@chadskelton)
Buy an ad.
I can confirm it乌鸦传媒檚 super easy to do and gives you a warm fuzzy feeling.
These days, though, many residents get their news online 乌鸦传媒� from newspaper websites like peacearchnews.com and others 乌鸦传媒� Skelton also points out that the print product is still essential for many, especially on the Semiahmoo Peninsula, which has a higher-than-average senior population.
乌鸦传媒淚n a community like ours in particular, there乌鸦传媒檚 a lot of elderly people, and they乌鸦传媒檙e not on Twitter. So for a lot of them, to know what乌鸦传媒檚 going on in their community, to know how to keep themselves safe, it乌鸦传媒檚 really important. To our most vulnerable citizens, I think community papers are even more important.乌鸦传媒�
There乌鸦传媒檚 another benefit to them, as well, he laughed.
乌鸦传媒淚 was joking with my wife and said, 乌鸦传媒榃here are all the old people going to complain if they can乌鸦传媒檛 write letters to the editor?乌鸦传媒櫸谘淮綕
While not everyone has financial means to purchase an ad on the front page as Skelton did, classified ads 乌鸦传媒� many of which can be bought online 乌鸦传媒� can run for as little as $30-$40, he noted.
乌鸦传媒淥bviously, (some) people have lost their jobs, and you need to worry about feeding yourself, but some people like me are lucky enough to still have a steady job,乌鸦传媒� he said.
乌鸦传媒淭he pier is an interesting (comparable). The pier gets washed out乌鸦传媒� and a lot of people said, 乌鸦传媒業 don乌鸦传媒檛 want to live in White Rock without the pier, so I乌鸦传媒檓 going to step up and donate, I乌鸦传媒檓 going to put my name on a plank.
乌鸦传媒淲ell, I don乌鸦传媒檛 want to live in White Rock without the Peace Arch News. It乌鸦传媒檚 a part of the community the same way that the fish-and-chip places down on Marine Drive are.乌鸦传媒�
editorial@peacearchnews.com
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