courtesy CTV Vancouver Island
Published Friday, January 22, 2016 4:49PM PST
One of Vancouver Island’s longest-running daily newspapers will close its doors for good at the end of January.
The Nanaimo Daily News, owned by Black Press, announced on social media it would cease operations on Jan. 29 after 141 years in print.
“We thank our loyal readers and advertisers for their support over the years,” it said in the announcement.
The newspaper did not elaborate on the reason behind the closure.
It was founded in 1874 as a semi-weekly publication, according to MemoryBC.
The paper was previously owned by Glacier Media, owner of the Victoria Times-Colonist, which sold most of its Vancouver Island publications to Black Press in 2015.
Black Press also owns the semi-weekly Nanaimo News Bulletin, now the sole remaining newspaper in Nanaimo.
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There’s only one reason Black Press (which most recently owned the Nanaimo Daily News) wants to shut that paper down, just as it did the Alberni Valley Times before it: Black Press saw Glacier Media’s Vancouver Island papers (including the Daily News and the AV Times) as competition and it wanted to buy those papers so it could shut the competition down. Just another example of why concentration of media is a bad idea.
A sign of the times … more to come I am sure.
Black Press is in deep trouble here in the Fraser Valley as well. Abby only has the one paper now and it’s only a matter of time before (pun) The Chilliwack Times sees the great printing press in the sky.
Until a method of monetizing internet content (yes maybe even PSR) is established newspapers are doomed. Its likely too late and even if it cost money to look at every piece of news worthy info on the net there is no going back.
David Black is an interesting cat. He surprised a lot of naysayers by plunging into the Honolulu newspaper market. He bought one daily over there and, I believe, bid on the second daily to create one combined survivor for that multi-islands market. Of course he’s on a possibly Quixotic mission to have a syndicate build a refinery in northern BC.
Maybe, like Conrad Black (no relation), he’ll prove to be a news baron whose small newspapers are slashed, diced and merged while all operating on the cheap in order to gain respectability by producing quality product with dailies. Time will tell. He’s no spring chicken and lost his wife to cancer a few years ago.
Black Press bought out the Courier Islander Newspaper in Campbell River in March of 2015 and promptly shut it down after more than 60 years of service to the community. Since then the Black Press paper is mostly a shopper with ads and flyers and what editorial that makes it to the page is sporadically placed in between the ads. There are not too many people in the community that are happy with the product that arrives at their door but what do you do when it’s a one paper town. Most people now drop the paper in the recycling bin without reading it due to lack of content.