Hopefully most people in Cobourg know by now that a group has been formed to see if there is anything that can be done to replace the gap left by the shutdown of Northumberland Today.
Currently led by Professor of e-journalism Rob Washburn, a Public Town Hall meeting has been organized for Tuesday March 20th at 7:00pm in Cobourg’s Victoria Hall. Rob asked Cobourg Council for support in the cost of that and Council approved his request on February 20. Since this initiative started, there has been some activity online (see links below) but no printed replacement newspaper. But is there demand for a daily printed paper? What do people really want? What are they prepared to pay for? Come to the meeting to give your ideas or simply hear what others have to say. How can local professional paid journalists be supported?
Links
- Announcement of Closure of Northumberland Today – 27 November 2017
- Announcement of Town Hall Meeting – 9 February 2018
- My list of other News Sources in Cobourg
Print Article:
Will also be filmed by Cobourg Media via Facebook for those who cannot attend in person.
We already have two Cobourg bloggers who should be paid. We always believed that one paper would handle all the area news efficiently and welcome less paper/flyers to dispose of. It appears that with two newspapers we are beating the bushes for news. The issue here is perhaps those who are not online.
Therein lies the problem, Blogs are just that opinions about established facts. I can tell you, having published online for over twenty years and experiencing the ups and downs of all the fads, blogs are followed for the opinions and content and all will not draw enough subscribers to pay the hosting fee. None have have the broad scope to provide news on a comprehensive level.
If you want to fund Blogs fund a portal of blogs, and pay the contributors. Only then will you get the views of all in one place.
Newspapers, local or otherwise, never reflect the “views of all”. Why does their replacement need to fulfill a new requirement to reflect the views of all? Besides, John has always done a better job than our previous print “news”.
Because Dubious the question posed for the community is how do you keep local news. The key word is community, not “just the news I (insert description of reader) want to read. We want complete news not echo chambers that reinforce ones opinions.
As a former subscribers to Northumberland Today my wife and I would welcome a rebirth of a quality daily. With the Cobourg/Port Hope population skewed to seniors, I would think there are a lot of potential subscribers. Not sure how spoiled people are by a free Thursday Northumberland News with a pound of flyers.
nothing is any nicer than getting up in the morning, turning your coffee on, picking up the local newspaper off the doorstep, and sitting down to enjoy a half hour relax, especially if you are a Senior!!!