Northern View marks Newspaper week with a barrage of ammo directed to the Internet

Ammo bunker at Seal Cove

In celebration of National Newspaper week across Canada, Northern View Publisher Todd Hamilton took to the editorial page on Thursday, firing off a volume of salvos from Fraser Street, directing fire at any number of threats from the Internet as his targets.

The majority of the broadsides destined for what he called the providers of fake news, the Internet trolls and anonymous  plagiarizers, though he didn't layout the list of those who have apparently put trusted and truthful journalism in peril right here in Prince Rupert.

The bulk of the focus for the editorial was the changing nature of journalism and how local papers are competing with Facebook and Google not only for readers, but for advertising dollars and how that siphoning off of revenues does not come back into Prince Rupert in the way of salaries for reporters, or taxes for the community.

The guns of the Fraser Street armoury go silent with a declaration to continue to produce honest, truthful and trusted journalism, as well as one final challenge to readers and advertisers to determine whether they want that journalism to continue.

Mr. Hamilton's  call to arms to stare down the challenges to the local publishing world can be found here.

That was not the only commemoration of National Newspaper week to be part of the Northern View's flow of news on the day, the online podcast also took note of the five day shout out to journalism.

Editor Shannon Lough and Joey Jack a one time reporter for the paper and now a member of North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice's support staff in Prince Rupert, provided for a few of their thoughts towards how they view the newspaper industry as an important part of community life.

You can explore their observations here.

As they were celebrating the week dedicated to newspapers, the changing nature of the local paper's availability in the community was being put into motion.

Thursday marking the first day that the news stands around the city were to charge customers for their copy of the paper, with the paper to remain a free publication for those receiving home delivery in the Prince Rupert area.

As they look to continue the battle with the ravaging hordes of the Internet, what impact that the new financial formula for the local paper will have on its total circulation numbers should make for an interesting study in the months ahead.

For more items of note related to the local media see our archive page here.

To return to our most recent blog posting of the day, click here.