A new Metro Vancouver publication is launching, aiming to fill a void it refers to as a “virtual news desert.”
Near the beginning of this year, we published a story about three major Metro Vancouver news publications shutting down: Burnaby Now, New Westminster Record, and Tri-City News.
Those publications were owned by Glacier Media, which attributed the shuttering of those news sites to economic conditions.
“We will miss you. The relationships and connections we’ve built over the decades have meant so much to us,” a post on the New Westminster Record website stated this February.
According to the post, Glacier Media explored all options to maintain operations at these Metro Vancouver news publications before deciding to close the sites.
“Unfortunately, the industry’s ongoing financial challenges have made it unsustainable to continue,” the post said.
Now, some of the people behind those publications have launched Freshet News, “Western Canada’s first non-profit news cooperative that’s union supported, covering Burnaby, New Westminster and the Tri-Cities.”
This June, we spoke with Cornelia Naylor, one of the seasoned journalists who will be part of the new publication. Naylor told Daily Hive that one of the visions for the future was re-launching a print publication, something that still looks to be part of the plan.
Naylor had worked with Burnaby Now for over a decade.
“Our goal at Freshet News is to put community back into community journalism. We’ll tell stories that matter to the community in a way that keeps us accountable to the community. That includes a weekly email newsletter delivered to subscribers, and a planned return to a print edition, as well as opportunities to tell us how we’re doing and how we could be doing it better,” a post on the Freshet News website says.
Other key figures in the new publication include Mario Bartel, Janis Cleugh, and Theresa McManus.
Bartel and Cleugh had both spent time with Tri-City News, while McManus was a reporter with both New Westminster Record and Burnaby Now.
Cleugh said, “Around North America, corporate media is closing news outlets citing a lack of profits. But local news isn’t about making money; it’s a public service that creates connection. It’s good for democracy.”
Stories began being posted on the website on Sept. 18, but the announcement about the “new beginning” was posted on Oct. 15.