SaltWire announces changes to Nova Scotia newspapers

SaltWire Network of Halifax — parent company of The Guardian and Journal Pioneer in P.E.I. — have announced some changes are coming to some of its Nova Scotia publications, effective July 1.

Amherst News and The Citizen Record will merge to become one publication. The Amherst News will also shift from a paid-for subscription publication to a free community newspaper, which will be delivered to all residents of Cumberland County.

Both the Amherst News and The Citizen Record each have fewer than 1,000 paid subscribers, Ian Scott, the chief operating officer and executive vice-president of SaltWire Network, said in an interview.

The newly combined freeweekly community newspaper in Cumberland County will have its circulation increase by at least a factor of 10, he said.

In another move, The Truro Daily News and The News in New Glasgow will both shift from paidfor daily publications to paid-for weekly publications, with the Truro Daily News becoming the Truro News.

And in a third modification announced by the company, The Queens County Advance will be consolidated with the South Shore Breaker to create a single community newspaper for the South Shore.

“There’s no doubt the newspaper business has changed dramatically over the past two decades,” Mark Lever, president and CEO of SaltWire Network, said in a news release. “But when a model or product is outdated, we don’t simply say there’s no other way. We evolve.”

In an memo sent to SaltWire staff on Wednesday, Lever indicated that local content continues to be very important, but some of the smaller publications didn’t have the number of subscribers required to support them.

“Although the model is changing, we remain as committed as ever to ensuring that our communities have access to local content,” Lever stated in the memo.

“We have developed a solution that delivers daily local content and a weekly package of news, analysis and entertainment delivered to the doors of the people we serve.”

In addition to the weekly products in each of the affected markets, he said, space for local news and events for the Amherst, Truro and New Glasgow areas will be created in the pages of The Chronicle Herald.

“This also means that the news out of these communities will reach residents, decision-makers, influencers and politicians across the province,” Lever said in the memo to staff.

Scott said the changes were announced on Wednesday to give the people affected by the changes, both internally and externally, as much notice as possible. There will be a total of five layoffs as a result of the changes.

The alterations by SaltWire Network are for the company’s Nova Scotia operations only.

However, Scott said, the company recently started printing its Prince Edward Island papers in Nova Scotia.

The Charlottetown Guardian and the Summerside Journal Pioneer had been printed on contract with another company, but now that has been taken inhouse, he said.

The change in printers became part of the plan following SaltWire’s acquisition of the former Transcontinental Inc.’s publications in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador in April 2017.