A sign of the Times
After 125 years, the daily newspaper in Moose Jaw, Sask., is closing. The Times-Herald will publish its final edition on Thursday, Dec. 7.
The people there might not realize it now, but they will miss their daily newspaper. The Times-Herald has been part of the community dating back to the 1800s.
The paper’s alumni include CBC Radio host Peter Gzowski and Kelowna Daily Courier reporter Ron Seymour. Both got their start in Moose Jaw.
What’s disappointing to print journalists is everyone wants the newspaper to be there for personal milestones — when their son or grandson wins a public speaking contest, backstops the local hockey team to a regional championship, or shaves their head and donates the hair to wigs for cancer patients.
They want the newspaper to be there to investigate issues when it affects their day-to-day lives.
They want politicians and those in positions of power and responsibility to be held accountable.
People expect the daily newspaper will always be there but so many won’t support it day-to-day, only when it’s convenient.
In some ways, it’s like the church. Everyone wants it there for life’s milestones — baptisms, weddings, and funerals but won’t darken the doors any other time or support the institution financially.
“I get my news online,” is often said. Online sites have their place, but in the race to be first, they often ignore any form of extensive research or background details. If they get something wrong, corrections can be instant.
Moose Jaw Mayor Fraser Tolmie, who has fond memories of delivering newspapers when he was eight-years-old, realizes the impact losing the daily will have on his community.
“(The Times-Herald) plays a historical impact in the city of Moose Jaw, for not only what it has contributed but with what is reported,” he said in an interview with the Penticton Herald. “It preserves a place where we can go back and look and see what has happened in the past during periods of time in the city’s history. To lose the paper is very unfortunate.”
The city of 33,000 will now be served by a weekly (the Moose Jaw Express), a radio station which also offers an all-news website, and the Regina Leader Post is available in Moose Jaw as well as The Globe and Mail.
It’s still not the same as having your own daily.
Readers often complain about their Penticton Herald, which is fair, we are a paid product. We may have too little of this, too much of that. We’re too negative, we’re not negative enough. News holes are shrinking. But we are fortunate to still have a daily newspaper when you consider communities as large as Nanaimo and Kamloops have both lost their dailies.
To quote Joni Mitchell: “You don’t know what you’ve got til its gone.”
—James Miller, Valley Editor