In this weekās issue of the readers will likely notice, in the bottom-right corner of the front page, an ad that is a little different than what you are accustomed to seeing.
The black-and-white advertisement is a note written by White Rock resident Chad Skelton, urging other local residents to purchase space in their community newspaper.
The current economic climate has seen businesses in every community shut down amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which, in turn, has affected newspaper advertising.
A former reporter at the Vancouver Sun, Skelton ā who is now a journalism professor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University ā said he got the idea for the ad from former Sun colleague Frances Bula, who a few weeks ago on Twitter urged people to take out ads that did everything from thank health-care workers and grocery-store staff to simply saying hello to a grandparent who may be stuck indoors and away from family during this period of self-isolation.
āI just thought, āOh, I could do that. That will make me feel better,āā Skelton said.
āAnd then I thought, if Iām going to take out an ad anyway, maybe it would be good to take out an ad encouraging other people to take out an ad.
By Friday morning, about a half a dozen local residents had taken Skelton up on his challenge, purchasing ad space in Peace Arch Newsā upcoming Thursday, April 9 edition.
āUnder normal circumstances, thereās plenty of ads, plenty of flyers and we get to enjoy (community papers) for free, but weāre in this sort of extreme situation where ads are drying up, so if you want the papers to exist today, and want them to exist tomorrow, you kind of have to step up.ā
Rick OāConnor, president and CEO of Black Press Media ā the parent company of Peace Arch News ā echoed those statements, adding that the current economic crisis is difficult for businesses like community papers that rely so heavily on advertising revenue, both in print and online.
Revenue has dropped 40 to 50 per cent in two weeks, OāConnor said.
Though the particulars of each newspaper are different, OāConnor said that, as a general ballpark figure, the cost to print and deliver each edition of the paper is 25 cents per copy printed ā a number that does not include overhead or staffing costs.
Peace Arch Newsā circulation is 37,000.
āThe double-whammy for newspapers is that the government considers them an essential service, and so they should be, but by the same token, good local journalism costs money.ā
Skelton said he gets the sense that many people have āquite a bit of affectionā for their local media outlets, though there are others who may take them for granted.
āA good way to frame it is, āHow would you feel if the Peace Arch News didnāt show up next week?ā Right now, weāre in a position where at least in the short-term, thatās a very real possibility (for many community papers),ā he said.
āThe big provincial, national, metro (news outlets), they do a great job, but they canāt be everywhere. They arenāt covering White Rock city council or Surrey school board on a regular basis. They arenāt covering the debate about dogs on the promenade or talking about raising money for the pier.
āIf these papers go away, nobodyās covering (these cities). I think maybe we forget the value of them.ā
If you value your local community newspaper ā and you want it to be around when all this is over ā thereās an easy way you can help:
ā Chad Skelton (@chadskelton)
Buy an ad.
I can confirm itās super easy to do and gives you a warm fuzzy feeling.
These days, though, many residents get their news online ā from newspaper websites like peacearchnews.com and others ā Skelton also points out that the print product is still essential for many, especially on the Semiahmoo Peninsula, which has a higher-than-average senior population.
āIn a community like ours in particular, thereās a lot of elderly people, and theyāre not on Twitter. So for a lot of them, to know whatās going on in their community, to know how to keep themselves safe, itās really important. To our most vulnerable citizens, I think community papers are even more important.ā
Thereās another benefit to them, as well, he laughed.
āI was joking with my wife and said, āWhere are all the old people going to complain if they canāt write letters to the editor?āā
While not everyone has financial means to purchase an ad on the front page as Skelton did, classified ads ā many of which can be bought online ā can run for as little as $30-$40, he noted.
āObviously, (some) people have lost their jobs, and you need to worry about feeding yourself, but some people like me are lucky enough to still have a steady job,ā he said.
āThe pier is an interesting (comparable). The pier gets washed outā¦ and a lot of people said, āI donāt want to live in White Rock without the pier, so Iām going to step up and donate, Iām going to put my name on a plank.
āWell, I donāt want to live in White Rock without the Peace Arch News. Itās a part of the community the same way that the fish-and-chip places down on Marine Drive are.ā
editorial@peacearchnews.com
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