MP concerned about fate of local news
“We need people in our communities that are helping to tell the story.”
Kody Blois
Kings-Hants MP
On the heels of the largest newspaper chain in Atlantic Canada filing for creditor protection, a Nova Scotia member of Parliament is urging people to think about what losing local news may mean.
Kings-Hants MP Kody Blois was in Windsor March 12 for a funding announcement that will help spur continued population growth in West Hants. He described hearing word of SaltWire seeking creditor protection as “very devastating to the news landscape.”
SaltWire owns 26 papers in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador. These include legacy dailies, like the Chronicle Herald, and weeklies like the Valley JournalAdvertiser.
On March 11, SaltWire and the Halifax Herald Ltd. applied to the Nova Scotia Supreme Court for creditor protection.
On March 13, Justice John Keith granted SaltWire a 10day period of creditor protection and ruled KSV Advisory will serve as a monitor for restructuring the company. The parties are due to return to court March 22.
“I think now more than ever we have to have a bit of a reflection of what we can do to support local news because without it, I don’t know who tells our stories,” said Blois. “Falls back to social media, falls back to algorithms on big tech platforms. We need people in our communities that are helping to tell the story.”
SaltWire and the Halifax Herald Ltd. employ about 390 people.
Blois said he recognizes there have been many challenges and “great uncertainty” in the media industry over the last decade. The federal government created the Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) fund in 2019, where news organizations could apply to access funding to hire journalists with the intention to “produce civic journalism for underserved communities.” That fund was recently renewed until 2027.
Through Bill C-18 (Online News Act), the government requires online platforms that benefit from sharing news links to pay towards this relationship. In the fall of 2023, tech giant Google agreed to pay $100 million annually, which will be divided among eligible news businesses based on the number of journalists employed. Meta has not reached an agreement to compensate news organizations and currently blocks Canadian articles from appearing on its social media platforms.
Blois said he worries about what it will mean if Atlantic Canadians lose local news sources.
“But I think we all ought to ask ourselves the question: if we’re in an environment where we have so little of a news landscape to be able to share local news and stories that matter to us, what does that mean for our society, what does that mean for our communities?” he said in an interview.
“I don’t have the answer, but I think it’s incumbent on all of us that are in government, whether federal, provincial or municipal, along with community stakeholders to ask those serious questions and it’ll be something I’ll be doing in the days ahead.”
As discourse around what losing local newspapers could mean to the region spills over onto social media, many people are weighing in, including well-known Canadian comedian Mark Critch and recent Oscar winner Ben Proudfoot.
On X, formerly known as Twitter, Critch, of 22 Minutes and Son Of A Critch fame, wished everyone at SaltWire well before encouraging people to subscribe.
“They break stories, keep those in power in check and bring us closer to our neighbours. They promote our local culture in a time when it’s harder to be heard over all the noise,” Critch wrote. “Buy a paper. Subscribe. It’s good news!”
Responding to a SaltWire columnist, Proudfoot noted he grew up with the Chronicle Herald on the breakfast table.
“It’s as Nova Scotian as the Bluenose and blueberry grunt. I pray that this will end in a successful resolution — local print journalism needs to be protected at all costs,” Proudfoot wrote.