As scores of community newspapers are consolidating or closing across Canada, the town of Osoyoos finds itself in a highly unusual situation, with two weekly print publications competing for residents鈥 attention.
The two players are the Times Chronicle, formerly the Osoyoos Times, which has been publishing since 1947, and the upstart Osoyoos Daylight, which recently printed its tenth edition.
Both papers come in tabloid format. The Times Chronicle publishes each Thursday and recently has been 20 or 24 pages.
The Daylight publishes Wednesday and has been consistently 16 pages.
The Times Chronicle charges $1.25 per edition or $50 for a year of home delivery. The Daylight is free through a number of local retailers and home delivery. Both have active websites, which carry the
content of the print editions.
The plight of community newspapers in Canada is a bit dire these days, but not completely bleak. A recent study, led by Ryerson University professor April Lindgren, reported that between 2008 and 2018, some 195 community papers closed in Canada while just 39 of them opened for business.
The bulk of the weekly closures were a result of large media companies closing community papers that were not profitable enough, said UBC journalism professor Alfred Hermida in a recent interview.
But smaller, independent community papers can still succeed. 鈥淭he challenge,鈥 he said, 鈥渋s are you in this to make millions of dollars or 鈥 to serve the community, pay your bills, pay yourself a decent salary, have enough journalists that you can pay a decent salary and serve that community.鈥
The Daily Courier reached out to both publications with requests for interviews about the newly competitive situation. Times Chronicle owner and publisher Sherani Theophilus agreed to a sit-down chat.
Daylight editor Trent Nellis declined to be interviewed. 鈥淚 will respectfully decline your request. Nothing personal, I just do not see any upside to participating,鈥 he wrote in an email.
As a result, The Daily Courier was unable to ask about such things as who owns the newspaper, what its circulation is, how it believes it can thrive in a difficult print media environment, or how it plans to compete against a long-established
local weekly.
Without a public-facing office or even a phone number, all communication with Osoyoos Daylight is through email.
Over coffee near her new Main Street office in downtown Osoyoos, the Times Chroniclesa国际传媒 Theophilus said she and her staff aren鈥檛 paying much attention to the new competition.
鈥淢y attitude is we鈥檝e been doing this a long time. I picked up the baton from a very long history of journalism and service to the community,鈥 she said.
鈥淚 have a great editor who has a great history of writing and a great team that works behind the scenes,鈥 she added. 鈥淲e just have to keep doing what we鈥檙e doing because we鈥檙e good at it.鈥
The Osoyoos Times opened in 1947 as an independent weekly. In the last couple of decades, it has been part of larger publishing groups, most recently Glacier Media and before that Aberdeen Publishing.
In 2020, as a cost-saving measure, the Osoyoos Times and its sister paper, the Oliver Chronicle, amalgamated to become the Times Chronicle, which covers both South Okanagan communities. Theophilus joined the Aberdeen-owned paper in 2020 and became publisher in 2021.
鈥淲e were not doing well in 2020 (the first COVID-19 year). We should have shut down actually,鈥 she said. 鈥(But)
Aberdeen carried us for a bit and we were able eventually to break even and we鈥檝e been kind of holding our (own).
鈥淚 have high hopes that as local initiative, that we鈥檒l be supported and that people don鈥檛 want to lose their paper, and that we鈥檒l be OK. 鈥 I鈥檓 very grateful for the advertising support.鈥
Early this year the Times Chronicle was purchased by Castanet, a Glacier Media subsidiary. However, the experiment with a print publication didn鈥檛 work out for Castanet, a mainly on-line operation.
On Nov. 1 this year, Theophilus bought the paper. She described the experience as, 鈥淪o far so good. I didn鈥檛 want to see the newspaper close. 鈥 (and) there was a one-hundred-per-cent chance of that (happening).鈥
As for Osoyoos Daylight, there is little corporate information on the website
other than it is owned by Osoyoos Daylight Publications Inc., which came into existence in June of this year.
An online search reveals that editor Nellis is a former publisher of Vista Magazine, which calls itself the 鈥淐anadian Guide to Healthy, Organic Living.鈥
The Daylight website includes the newspapersa国际传媒 mission statement: 鈥淥soyoos Daylight strives to serve our readers through the pursuit of Truth no matter where it leads.鈥
The content over the first 10 editions has tended toward local features and opinion along with some local news. A
favoured technique has been a Q-and-A format with apparently verbatim questions and responses, leading to some articles in the 2,000-word range and longer.
Aside from Nellis, Osoyoos Daylight boasts a crew that includes a staff reporter, an intern and three local 鈥渃ontributing authors.鈥
Carol Youngberg, a realtor and former Osoyoos councillor, said in a recent interview she was approached to participate in the new publication, but declined because she is not in Osoyoos often enough.
Asked for her advice, 鈥淚 just said go for it. You have a different opinion and the community is heathy enough that it can take both opinions and digest them and use whatever they think is appropriate for themselves.鈥
As for the goals of the new publication, 鈥淭hey said their objective was simple, that they wanted to create a local paper with a lot of local 鈥 items and feature a lot of local individuals who had excelled in the community. 鈥 I think thatsa国际传媒 a good thing,鈥 Youngberg said.
