Two N.S. newspapers go to weekly publication

HALIFAX Two Nova Scotia newspapers are going from daily to weekly publications, while others are merging into single papers.

Saltwire Network, which owns several papers in the province including the Halifax Chronicle Herald, said the publications in Truro and New Glasgow will now both come out once a week on Thursdays, starting July 1.

Ian Scott, the company’s vice-president and chief operating officer, said the changes should add more local content to the two publications and the larger Chronicle Herald.

“So they will have a daily newspaper in the form of the Chronicle Herald as well, and the websites will be maintained as daily and hourly updated websites for those two newspapers,” he said Thursday.

“The landscape is continuing to change and we’re just changing with it.”

He said there were about 3,200 subscribers at the Truro paper, while New Glasgow had about 3,700 subscribers.

The company says it is also consolidating the weeklies Amherst News and The Citizen Record into one publication called the Amherst News. There will also be a shift from a paid-for subscription publication to a free community newspaper, which will be delivered to all residents of Cumberland County.

The Queens County Advance will also merge with the South Shore Breaker. Scott said a parttime reporter will be bumped up to full time.

The changes will result in five layoffs, largely in administrative positions, Scott said. He could not say if there would be any editorial layoffs.

Saltwire CEO Mark Lever said the changes reflect an evolving newspaper business that has had to adapt “when a model or product is outdated.”