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CTV News
21-05-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Advertising bylaws another nail in the coffin for local media, newspaper publishers say
Postmedia signage is pictured at the head office in Toronto, on Wednesday, June 28, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Lahodynskyj In the eight years since the former NDP government changed rules governing Alberta's municipalities, newspaper publishers say they've seen a once stable revenue stream evaporate and relationships with local governments become more politicized. The Municipal Government Act (MGA) requires municipalities to advertise certain proposed bylaws, resolutions, public hearings and other government business. The act previously specified public notices be placed in newspapers as paid advertisements or delivered directly to residents, but it was amended in 2017 to allow municipalities to write bylaws authorizing the use of alternatives like social media and online advertising. 'Once the MGA changed and councils could advertise online or through their own channels, many of us lost that income almost overnight. Now that money often goes to Facebook or Google instead of staying in the community,' said Lisa Sygutek, publisher of the Crowsnest Pass Herald and Alberta Weekly Newspaper Association president. Alberta has lost a total of 52 community newspapers since 2008, according to data from the Local News Research Project , including 30 that have closed since 2018. Many of these closures follow a broader collapse of advertising revenue for community newspapers in Canada, which fell 44 per cent between 2018 and 2022. The disappearance of public notices on its own might not be a death sentence for a newspaper, but it is another blow for an already struggling industry, said Tyler Nagel, a journalism instructor at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. 'The government as a source of revenue for newspapers by way of advertising goes way back. I think that the changes to the Municipal Government Act definitely exacerbate the situation,' Nagel said. 'Local newspapers are already hanging by a thread.' As early as 1908, the Edmonton city charter mandated that certain public notices be published for three successive weeks in a city newspaper, and this stipulation was written into the original MGA in 1968 . Researchers have called required public notice spending a type of ' silent subsidy ' that has helped sustain newspapers and legitimized them as official sources of civic information. When these civic notices stop appearing in the newspaper, readership declines as well, 'and that hurts subscriptions, ad sales, everything,' Sygutek said. 'It sends a message that local journalism isn't necessary anymore, and that's dangerous for small towns like ours.' The Albertan publisher Murray Elliott said his concern with the proliferation of new municipal ad bylaws since 2017 is that it allows local governments to 'bypass' his paper and other media for the sake of expediency. In December, Olds town council passed its own ad bylaw, the latest of several communities served by the Albertan to do so. Though the current administration has promised to maintain its spending with the paper, Elliott said he's aware of how quickly that could change. 'I'm worried that when they don't like us, then they have that option,' he said. 'They can lead with emotion, and they can pull the newspaper.' Sygutek said she experienced this kind of backlash in the early 2010s, when Crowsnest Pass town council 'pulled nearly all their advertising' in response to stories her paper published. The previous statutory notice requirements in the MGA prevented council from cutting its funding to the paper completely, but she said now that those minimal 'safeguards' have been removed, publishers feel like they're walking a fine line in their reporting. 'If you push too hard or publish something council doesn't like, you risk losing what little advertising support is left. That pressure challenges the very foundation of what local journalism is supposed to stand for,' Sygutek said. During his research on local news, Nagel said he's heard similar stories from other publishers of current newspapers, though they have elected to not make these disputes public. When councils have a choice about whether to continue funding local media or not, 'things have the potential to become politicized,' he said. The extent to which a municipal administration can take punitive action and defund local media also depends on the language of the advertising bylaw. While governments must fulfill certain legal obligations to notify the public, how this is achieved is left up to individual municipalities. Some bylaws, like those introduced by Airdrie and St. Paul , maintain requirements to place notices in the local paper but add other options like digital ads. Far more municipalities however, including Edmonton , Innisfail , Cold Lake and Cochrane , have opted to remove print media as a required method for public notices altogether. Edmonton's shift to online advertising has also marked the end of its long-standing arrangement with the Edmonton Journal and Postmedia. For over 20 years, the city maintained a sole-source advertising contract with the network valued at about $1 million per year, and legally required ads from the city accounted for over two-thirds of Edmonton's ad spending with the Journal. A spokesperson for the city confirmed the contract hadn't been renewed after expiring at the end of 2024. April Lindgren, founder of the Local News Research Project and professor emerita at Toronto Metropolitan University School of Journalism, said that while she believes it's important for municipalities to support local media, prioritizing funding for print publications doesn't necessarily mean protecting quality news. She argued that in cases where papers are owned by big media chains that have for years 'slashed and burned the newsrooms to the point where there's hardly any news in those publications,' directing scarce municipal dollars to proprietors who aren't committed to serving the public good isn't a smart investment. 'The fact of the matter is, in many communities, newspapers are pale shadows of what they used to be, and they're not necessarily the main source of news anymore. There are some strong digital online news sources, and I would want to make sure that any municipal advertising policy would recognize that in terms of where it put its ads,' Lindgren said. She believes a best practice for a municipality would be to recognize that viable local media in a variety of forms is essential infrastructure, just like safe streets, quality drinking water or timely ambulance service. 'People need to be informed,' she said. 'I don't think newspapers have any sort of magic claim on the public's attention anymore when it comes to getting news.' The changes to the MGA made by the former New Democrat government acknowledge the increased reliance on digital and social media for news updates, and the legislation is intended to allow municipalities the opportunity to establish bylaws to reflect that, Ministry of Municipal Affairs press secretary Kevin Lee said in an email. 'It is our expectation that municipalities establish these bylaws with the needs of their community top of mind so they can ensure that their residents are aware of the public notices that they publish.' ----------------------- By Brett McKay, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Investigative Journalism Foundation
CBC
31-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
As a small-town Alberta newspaper shuts down, others fight to stay alive
After covering elections and issues around Coronation, Alta., for more than a century, the East Central Alberta Review published its final edition last week. The newspaper launched in 1911 — the first issue came out months before Coronation was incorporated. By its 114th year delivering the news, the paper reached 26,000 homes across more than 90 communities east of Red Deer, according to publisher and owner Joyce Webster. "I've been here 44 years, putting the newspaper out. So it's probably going to be a little bit of a hole in my life," she said on the Calgary Eyeopener last Tuesday. "It is sad because the community is not going to be able to get information from their local council meetings or the crime beat." Webster said she's ready to retire and tried to sell the newspaper but couldn't find a buyer. "So much of the advertising, unfortunately, has gone to social media," she said. The final nail in the coffin for the East Central Alberta Review, Webster added, was a change to Canada Post's advertising mail policy. Last year, the postal service stopped delivering newspapers with commercial inserts, like flyers advertising local businesses, to Canadians signed up for the Consumers' Choice program, which allows people to opt out of receiving advertising mail, according to Canada Post. "When that happened, it literally took another $24,000 off the bottom of my bottom line. So it wasn't literally feasible to continue," said Webster. Dozens of other Alberta news outlets shut down From 2008 to last month, 62 news outlets closed in Alberta, according to the Local News Research Project, run by a group of Canadian journalism researchers. During that same time, 23 new outlets opened in the province. Across the country, 529 local news outlets closed in 351 communities. "The organizations seem to be under a great deal of strain," said Tyler Nagel, a journalism instructor at SAIT and PhD candidate, adding many community papers are facing a sharp reduction in ad revenue. "Similarly, in many towns, they're seeing a reduction in readership as aging populations continue to diminish and young people seem to be either less interested in the news or, in some cases, moving out of the communities." Nagel compares professional local journalists to local fire departments: both go to work when disasters strike or problems surface. "When an important issue faces a community, having that objective professional source of information that can push back against claims being made on social media or set the record straight for a community. That's really important for everyone who lives there," he said. Newspapers in Claresholm, Three Hills face challenges The Three Hills Capital has been printing local news since 1916. Meanwhile, the Claresholm Local Press is looking forward to its 100th anniversary next year. Both have faced huge challenges adapting to the changing advertising environment. "You're always competing with social media," Rob Vogt, editor of the Claresholm Local Press, said on the Eyeopene r last Thursday. "Everybody has a platform now. Everybody can basically publish their own newspaper." General Motors was a big source of ad revenue for Three Hills Capital, before the car company closed its dealerships in Three Hills and the surrounding area, according to publisher Tim Shearlaw. "All of a sudden, General Motors decided that it was over for small dealerships," he said on the Eyeopener. "We lost thousands of dollars in that respect. And, of course, a draw to the community, because in a rural community, a car dealership is an anchor." Despite the challenges, both newspapers plan to continue publishing long into the future. "We survived the pandemic and we've seen an increase in the last couple of years," said Shearlaw. "We're a family operation, and we continue to put out a product that we're very proud of." "We've survived everything, you know. That includes the Depression and the two world wars," said Vogt. "I think we're going to keep on going as long as we can."
