LJI News
Local news makes a difference
for English-speaking communities
The importance of local media is a topic that has been the subject of many discussions in the last decade as news outlets across North America struggle to stay alive.
But nowhere is the topic more important than within the English-speaking community of Quebec.
As the provincial government has moved to systematically reduce the amount of information in English available, the need for English media becomes more vital.
“We are the only ones explaining basic services and issues,” said Nikki Mantell, publisher of The Low Down to Hull and Back News, which covers the Gatineau hills region in western Quebec.
As elements of Bill 96 approved in 2023, which has reinforced the Charter of the French Language, are implemented and enforced, the amount of information in English in all sectors of Quebec is diminishing.
Quebec-based companies must now ensure that all information on their websites is in French.
The provincial government itself has reduced information available in English.
And at the municipal level, only towns with bilingual status retain the right to provide some services and information in both French and English. Although, this includes offering English on their websites, many reports and some documentation are often available in French only.
For English-speaking residents who live in municipalities that do not have bilingual status, the information available to anglophones in English is disappearing.
“Now more than ever we need a place where the community comes together,” Mantell said.
“It’s like a Joni Mitchell song,” Mantell continued. “You really don’t know what you’ve lost until it’s gone.”
“We are the only ones explaining basic services and issues.”
– Nikki Mantell, publisher of The Low Down to Hull and Back News
In this climate, ensuring that English-language media survives in these communities, she said, is that much more important now.
But it is not just information in English that is important, said Brenda O’Farrell, president of the Quebec Community Newspaper Association. It is also having journalists on the ground, doing the research, asking the questions and providing the context of what is happening at the municipal level that is crucial.
“Journalism puts issues in context,” said O’Farrell, who is also the editor at three community newspapers.
“We can’t lose sight of what is happening with public administration,” she added. “If local media is not doing it, it simply doesn’t get done, and the majority of residents will never learn about what is going on at town halls, where public money is being managed.”
“It takes work,” said Mantell, referring to covering town councils.
Owners and publishers of local independent newspapers don’t take anything for granted. But neither should readers, said Ilka de Laat, manager of the QCNA. Especially, she explained, when we see so much of the media disappearing.
“Journalism puts issues in context.”
– Brenda O’Farrell, QCNA President
Shifting the directional
flow of news
COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS AT EPICENTRE OF A REVOLUTION
In the first 11 months of 2024, 36 local news outlets closed in Canada. Twenty-nine were community newspapers, while seven were privately owned radio stations, according to the Local News Research Project at Toronto Metropolitan University’s School of Journalism.
That is in addition to the more than 500 news outlets that have ceased operations in Canada since 2008.
For those that remain, surviving does not mean striving – not by any means. Just about every other news operation in the country that remains – from Bell Media to the CBC, Postmedia to the Torstar group of papers – have slashed jobs and pulled back on coverage.
Canadians across the country are losing their news media, bit by bit, reporter by reporter, newspaper by newspaper – except for you, at least for now.
What makes you so different from a growing number of Canadians?
The mere fact that you are reading this, means you are served by a community newspaper that is still in operation. In fact, in a few very rare instances, you are reading a newspaper that just started publishing in the last few years.
If these areas were to be located on a map, they would be identified as “the starting point.” It’s where news begins.
And this is where the one bright light in the story of the Canadian media shines. It is where a little revolution has started to rumble. It’s the epicentre that is shifting the directional flow of news in Canada.
“News no longer flows down from the big media outlets,” said Brenda O’Farrell, the president of the Quebec Community Newspaper Association. “It flows up, from the small, independent community news operations that still have reporters in communities outside the big city areas.”
O’Farrell calls it the “Trickle Up Theory of News.”
“No longer are major news outlets covering all areas. They are only focusing on major metropolitan centres,” she explained. “But so many people live outside of those regions.”
The stories that reflect these communities – stories that are important to these Canadians – are being covered by community newspapers.
“And these stories are trickling up to the major news operations – the CBC, the nearby daily, the Bell Media or Global News television stations. They pick up on our stories,” O’Farrell explained.
If it wasn’t for community news outlets, Canada’s major media outlets would only cover the big cities and nothing else. They no longer have the resources to do it.
That is why community newspapers are so important and need support, says Ilka de Laat, manager of the QCNA.
They also deserve your support, De Laat said, adding, “Your local newspaper reflects your issues, because the journalists live in the same community. They are your neighbours. This is how accountability and trust works. A big-city reporter being sent to your small community from a corporate media outlet, they won’t appreciate your situation.”
Which brings us to context. Local reporters understand the local context – what is important to residents and why.
But for this “trickle up” to succeed, readers in all these communities that still have a community newspaper have to buy in. They cannot take their newspaper for granted. The stories from their towns are important. Readers have to become stakeholders in the process. And the way to do that is to subscribe.
“Look at what is happening in the U.S.,” O’Farrell said. “We can’t rely on social media platforms that are ready to drop fact-checking, ban news like Meta has done in Canada, and change the name of the Gulf of Mexico as they pander to a president who will allow them to avoid regulations that could affect their bottom lines.”
And on this side of the border, in Quebec, where municipalities that do not have bilingual status will soon have to eliminate information in English from their websites as aspects of Bill 96 are enforced, access to information in English is going to become more crucial.
Having reporters cover municipal councils will be crucial for the English-speaking community. And only your local community newspaper does that.
Content provided by QCNA
