Black buys out local media chain - Nelson Daily News to close
By Kyra Hoggan
It’s the end of an era – 109-year-old Nelson Daily News (NDN) will be closing its doors, perhaps as soon as July 30 of this year … and The Weekender magazine may also be a casualty. Although The Source has been unable to confirm the exact details of a massive local media purchase, it appears Black Press has bought the Trail Daily Times, the Nelson Daily News, the Grand Forks Gazette, the Weekender, the Creston Valley Advance and the Fernie Free Press from Glacier Ventures Group.
The only two newspapers slated for closure, as far as we were able to ascertain, are the NDN and the Weekender, although this obviously brings into question how Black Press will handle owning two competing newspapers in the Trail market. While those decisions are being made, however, staff at the NDN have committed to providing the same quality news delivery for which they’ve been known for over a century, according to managing editor Bob Hall. “I think when you’re delivered news like this, the first reaction as a person is to think about your own situation – I have a wife and kids and a mortgage – but my thoughts fairly quickly turned to …what this newspaper means to the community, and has for 109 years,” said the man who has been at the NDN helm for 15 years. “It’s a huge loss.” He said, though, that it’s a loss being felt, in one way or another, throughout the world. “Print media is in trouble – not just here in Nelson, but across North America and across the world,” he said. “(We’re a) community of 10,000 – 12,000 – can we support a daily newspaper? “Obviously not. “We’re just another victim of a changing society.” He said it’s heart-breaking, from a personal standpoint, to see the NDN winding down. “Having my name on the masthead of the NDN on its final edition is going to be very hard for me,” he said. “I feel like, in a way, I’ve failed. This newspaper means so much to me. It’s very sad.” He added though, that until that final edition rolls off the presses, there will be no compromises in the quality of editorial content. “We owe it to every single person who has walked thrpugh those doors in the past 109 years, who value journalism, who value what we do,” he said, explaining that, while it’s discouraging to know you’re pouring your heart into coverage for a doomed newspaper, it’s something that simply must be done. “When you’re delivered news like this, there’s the risk of a sort of a lame-duck scenario. “Many people have made many sacrifices; spent so many hours to see news delivered from here at its highest quality – anything less than that now would be failing the people who came before us.”
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