As a small-town Alberta newspaper shuts down, others fight to stay alive

After covering elections and issues around Coronation, Alta., for more than a century, the East Central Alberta Review published its final edition last week.

The newspaper launched in 1911 — the first issue came out months before Coronation was incorporated.

By its 114th year delivering the news, the paper reached 26,000 homes across more than 90 communities east of Red Deer, according to publisher and owner Joyce Webster. 

"I've been here 44 years, putting the newspaper out. So it's probably going to be a little bit of a hole in my life," she said on the Calgary Eyeopener last Tuesday. 

"It is sad because the community is not going to be able to get information from their local council meetings or the crime beat." 

Webster said she's ready to retire and tried to sell the newspaper but couldn't find a buyer. 

"So much of the advertising, unfortunately, has gone to social media," she said. 

The final nail in the coffin for the East Central Alberta Review, Webster added, was a change to Canada Post's advertising mail policy. 

Last year, the postal service stopped delivering newspapers with commercial inserts, like flyers advertising local businesses, to Canadians signed up for the Consumers' Choice program, which allows people to opt out of receiving advertising mail, according to Canada Post. 

"When that happened, it literally took another $24,000 off the bottom of my bottom line. So it wasn't literally feasible to continue," said Webster.

From 2008 to last month, 62 news outlets closed in Alberta, according to the Local News Research Project, run by a group of Canadian journalism researchers.

During that same time, 23 new outlets opened in the province.

Across the country, 529 local news outlets closed in 351 communities.

"The organizations seem to be under a great deal of strain," said Tyler Nagel, a journalism instructor at SAIT and PhD candidate, adding many community papers are facing a sharp reduction in ad revenue.