About 22 years ago, I had one of the most anxious days in my life. In July of 1995, I made the decision to close the newspaper I started 8 years earlier. This decision didn't come easily, or without cost. Weeks of agonizing thought and discussion preceded it.
I had started "The Informer" with little cash, but grand ideas and lofty goals. Many of those aspirations came to fruition over the next 7 years, and many didn't.
One of the things I was most proud of was my partner Tony Ruffo and his unending moral code towards publishing invaluable and controversial news. One thing that made Tony who he is and was, was his understanding that the almighty dollar wouldn't control what we published.
This attitude became our unspoken mantra. Yes, we lost some advertising dollars when some merchants refused to advertise with us due to an article or story they didn't like. For the most part our reputation, creativity and work ethic made up for any financial discrepancies.
Every article that was published, was vetted and facts were checked before being put on paper. We never once had a story come back that was, as Donald Trump called it "fake news".
Tony was steadfast in his commitment to watch City Hall and their goings on. He attended every single council meeting, every public meeting, every media scrum, he left no stone un-turned. His "Trust but Verify" attitude rubbed off on me so many times over the years, it eventually became one of my own personality traits.
Aylmer was a small town back then .... it still is really! There were a few businesses willing to advertise, but lots of news to publish.
As a publisher, this made for difficult choices. Do I add additional pages to the publication to get the news in? If I did, printing costs would escalate, if not, then we might have to drop a few articles. Advertising always has and will determine the size of a publication... they pay the bills.
More often than not, I found the news too darn important to ignore and decided to add pages and increase costs. Tony embedded this attitude in me - despite my occasional resistance and arguments to reduce costs.
This town was and is too small to support 2 weekly newspapers. So when I closed the company, I had no doubt that our competition would flourish, and for that I was actually happy... knowing that Aylmer would be served by at least one quality newspaper.
I have read this remaining publication almost every week since those days, and I can honestly say I'm not-a-bit impressed with them at all. As a monopoly, they have the ability to charge whatever rates they deem the market will support for local advertising, they can enlarge the amount of pages and not fear losing revenue by publishing controversial news.
Yet, week after week this publication puts 'fluff' on their pages. Sure they carry the occasional article about community goings on, but rarely - if ever - have I seen them slam the city for a bad decision. They leave the criticism to those writing 'letters to the editor'. This way they cannot be seen as taking a side, or publishing controversial news. It also means, they don't take any chances!
They do publish many good-news stories and articles about local people doing exceptional or interesting things. I'm all for that! They run clever advertising campaigns, but mask them as news features. Again, I am all for the company making a decent profit.
All that being said, even their editorials take the popular public opinion. They publish non-controversial opinions with almost every editorial. They rarely look below the surface at details, hidden facts, possible long term implications. "Don't rock the boat" seems to be their mantra!
That - in and of itself is depressing enough. Not taking a stand on much, is maddening!
In my opinion being a reporter, journalist or publishing a weekly newspaper requires some intestinal fortitude. It requires taking a chance here and there, publishing controversial news stories, researching and digging up facts about events and/or public personas - and mostly not letting politicians get away with bad legislation or underhanded- back room dealings.
In my opinion this publication seems to publish 80% of their pages with advertising, and the balance with fluff or letters to the editor. Aylmer is simply not being served by this type of publishing.
I say - get off your duff and rock the damn boat!
Look under a few rocks, you are bound to find a crooked politician or two there.
Serve your population the way they deserve to be served!
Thankfully, until then I can still use that paper to line my compost bags and help create new compost (also partly known as rubbish recycling)!
I had started "The Informer" with little cash, but grand ideas and lofty goals. Many of those aspirations came to fruition over the next 7 years, and many didn't.
One of the things I was most proud of was my partner Tony Ruffo and his unending moral code towards publishing invaluable and controversial news. One thing that made Tony who he is and was, was his understanding that the almighty dollar wouldn't control what we published.
This attitude became our unspoken mantra. Yes, we lost some advertising dollars when some merchants refused to advertise with us due to an article or story they didn't like. For the most part our reputation, creativity and work ethic made up for any financial discrepancies.
Every article that was published, was vetted and facts were checked before being put on paper. We never once had a story come back that was, as Donald Trump called it "fake news".
 | |
| Palais de Congres - Photo by Jean Gagnon - CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51678339 Since 1981 has been a financial nightmare for the City. |
Aylmer was a small town back then .... it still is really! There were a few businesses willing to advertise, but lots of news to publish.
As a publisher, this made for difficult choices. Do I add additional pages to the publication to get the news in? If I did, printing costs would escalate, if not, then we might have to drop a few articles. Advertising always has and will determine the size of a publication... they pay the bills.
More often than not, I found the news too darn important to ignore and decided to add pages and increase costs. Tony embedded this attitude in me - despite my occasional resistance and arguments to reduce costs.
This town was and is too small to support 2 weekly newspapers. So when I closed the company, I had no doubt that our competition would flourish, and for that I was actually happy... knowing that Aylmer would be served by at least one quality newspaper.
 | |
| By P199 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16870014 Main street in Aylmer around the late 1990's |
I have read this remaining publication almost every week since those days, and I can honestly say I'm not-a-bit impressed with them at all. As a monopoly, they have the ability to charge whatever rates they deem the market will support for local advertising, they can enlarge the amount of pages and not fear losing revenue by publishing controversial news.
Yet, week after week this publication puts 'fluff' on their pages. Sure they carry the occasional article about community goings on, but rarely - if ever - have I seen them slam the city for a bad decision. They leave the criticism to those writing 'letters to the editor'. This way they cannot be seen as taking a side, or publishing controversial news. It also means, they don't take any chances!
They do publish many good-news stories and articles about local people doing exceptional or interesting things. I'm all for that! They run clever advertising campaigns, but mask them as news features. Again, I am all for the company making a decent profit.
That - in and of itself is depressing enough. Not taking a stand on much, is maddening!
In my opinion being a reporter, journalist or publishing a weekly newspaper requires some intestinal fortitude. It requires taking a chance here and there, publishing controversial news stories, researching and digging up facts about events and/or public personas - and mostly not letting politicians get away with bad legislation or underhanded- back room dealings.
In my opinion this publication seems to publish 80% of their pages with advertising, and the balance with fluff or letters to the editor. Aylmer is simply not being served by this type of publishing.
I say - get off your duff and rock the damn boat!
Look under a few rocks, you are bound to find a crooked politician or two there.
Serve your population the way they deserve to be served!
Thankfully, until then I can still use that paper to line my compost bags and help create new compost (also partly known as rubbish recycling)!
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