We have something worth protecting
The sound of skittering on the deck is deafening as Record faithful abandon ship. One after another, subscribers, advertisers and institutions that have been the backbone of The Record, have everso-politely said, ‘sorry, your 121-year-old voice is shaky and no longer relevant in a digital age’.
We had, naively perhaps, hoped that subscribers and advertisers would recognize the significant role The Record plays in illustrating and maintaining the vitality of the community. Every edition is a barometer that gauges the strength of the English-speaking community based on the activity in schools, churches, legions, libraries, theatres, community centres and yes, businesses that deem the community important enough to reach through advertising.
I speak of ‘community’ here, not just as a collection of people who speak English, but a group of people with a shared history and future together.
So here’s a reminder. The Record is more than a purveyor of news and events. It is the cement that unites members of our geographically-dispersed minority community, a bridge between French and English-speaking neighbours, the link between past and present, and tangible evidence of the continued presence of an English-speaking population in the Eastern Townships. As long as The Record arrives at the door in the morning, there is proof of daily life through its schools, churches, and community groups. The Record’s archives document the stories of hospitals, schools, churches, rinks and community centers built with the determination and pioneer spirit of our ancestors. As an historic tool, it provides first-hand accounts of the formation and evolution of our communities, and instills a sense of pride in the rich heritage we share. On a daily basis, it allows us to collectively celebrate our heroes, share our stories and mourn our losses.
As a print newspaper, we also recognize that consumers in 2018 don’t get information the way they did in the past and our challenge is to offer a parallel digital format that offers the same local news, with the same limited resources.
To that end, The Record has a web site and Facebook page, visited by 44,000 people in the last week, substantially more, I would suggest, than any other English-language information site in the Eastern Townships. Our paper is no stranger to evolving trends and reading habits and we are striving to respond to changes in the media landscape. But we also know that many in our community do not, and will not, turn on a computer to find out the time of the church supper or funeral service and would quickly slip into isolation without their daily newspaper. They’ve told us so.
So we will continue to man the ship and plug the holes with fewer hands on deck and trust someone will toss us a life raft. Because we believe there is something worth protecting here. Something the size of a community.
Sharon Mccully