Next is the Citizen….

There is no real focus on local news and most provincial, national, or international news stories could have been read days earlier on the web.
Used to be a Citizen subscriber but not for the last 3 years.

That will make those working at The Citizen have a bit of a butt pucker.

Too many union wages in an industry that can no longer sustain them.

Its hardly an issue of union wages there Pylot. I used to work in a paper mill that produced newsprint. We made some of the best paper in North America. Guess what killed it? That’s right. The internet. Why read a paper when you get instant access to news anytime over your smartphone or computer…..

When the cost of producing the newspaper (yes, that includes wages and beneifts) outstrips the money coming in, the newspaper isn’t viable anymore. Look what’s happened to the classifieds section (for example). I’m actually surprised the Citizen is still publishing.

Pylot- Are you saying that if the Newspaper people were all being paid minimum wage, they would still have jobs today?

‘Consolidation for synergies’ is what has killed local newspapers. People want to ready unique news that is relevant and local to them, not canned news from a central publisher hundreds if not thousands of miles away.

The news business today is not about good local stories anymore, but rather about profits and control of propaganda. The free press is on its death bed and that is why news organizations like 250News is doing so well.

The internet? Howe about TV which was first in line?

Frankly, I think that if we look at TV, paper publications, “free” paper publications, as well as major newspapers going onto the internet with “local” with quick opinion local input, one has the whole spectrum of what made printed newspapers die.

The Seattle Intelligencer just went on the internet only a few months ago. It is still publishing, just not on paper with the associated printing cost and distribution cost.

So, the question is, will SOME newspapers morph onto a better media than hand delivered paper that will compete with the various “newsnets” that have been populating the internet in the past decade?

The notion of informative news that is local will not go away, I believe. There is a value to such a service, especially these days with quicker access. There is a value to well researched material which is resented in as objective a way as possible or, better still, a spectrum of “sides” to an issue. We should not lose that.

I think that we have been losing a little of that as those in the media have been fighting to keep an audience to more sensationalistic journalism than I am used to from when I grew up.

I agree with gus on the part about; “There is a value to well researched material which is resented in as objective a way as possible or, better still, a spectrum of “sides” to an issue. We should not lose that.”

The Citizen lost that a long time ago, they constantly take sides, siding with City Hall and against the Haldi Road neighbourhood during the Women’s Treatment Centre debacle. Printing pro-Enbridge news articles and editorials, constantly siding with the two queens; Green and Bond (their Citizen pick of the year by the way)

Glacier Media and SUN Media are one in the same as far as a political position goes; pro-Enbridge, pro-corporate, pro-conservative, right wing ideology based.

They also end up being the news story more often than they report the news, i.e. publishing a picture on their front page of a young man laying dead on a PG street; publishing horrid details of sexual assaults on young girls, that involved beastiality… truly SICK stuff that should never have been published. Their response to readership and public outcry? “We apologize for nothing”!!!

As a result, their readers have been leaving in droves, yes expect the Citizen to be next, and good riddance!

It is a different world these days. One loss could be another business’s gain.

Yeah, one day our citizen is going to be history too. Went thru it for the first time in a few years. Not much for classifieds, Looks like Kijiji takes a big swipe at them too.

People: “The Citizen lost that a long time ago, they constantly take sides, siding with City Hall and against the Haldi Road neighbourhood during the Women’s Treatment Centre debacle. Printing pro-Enbridge news articles and editorials”

All media takes sides. Some of it you agree with, and some you don’t. In terms of Enbridge, even you have to admit that the media has been very anti-Enbridge from the start, so any article seen as ‘pro’ sticks out like a sore thumb.

I’ve been involved in the newspaper industry for the better part of my life. Both of my parents worked at the Citizen, and I worked at PG This Week (now defunct) and at The Free Press before moving to the lower mainland.

Up until June, my significant other worked at the Vancouver Sun/Prov. She was there for 18 years.

That said, I might know a thing or two about how newspapers operate.

The union wages at some publications are way too heavy for the company to absorb. The Sun/Prov is shutting down their printing plant and outsourcing it specifically for that reason. The pressmen’s wages were not viable.

126 people took buyouts last summer as they had two options…. buyout or risk layoff.

The Revenue stream has dropped off but the union wages have continued (and even increased) from when times were good for newspapers.

Forgot to add… that’s 200 pressmen losing their jobs + the 126 that took buyouts in the office.

The Citizen is to right wing for my eyes.

Hopefully union costs here in BC won’t lead to the outsourcing, off-shoring of more production jobs! Oh wait, that’s already happened. How is Canfor’s application to build a lumber production mill in China coming along?

The Citizen was last a community newspaper when Del Laverdue was Publisher. The guy that followed him ruined the Citizen and cared nothing about Prince George and the people here. He has done the same in Nanaimo. There is very little news anymore, including O250…..the writers could all work for National Enquirer or some other gossip organization !

Boon: “The Citizen was last a community newspaper when Del Laverdue was Publisher.”

And before the real shift to online news. I don’t even think Del could turn the tide if he was still at the Citizen today.

The Citizen could if it chose to, be a good local, regional newspaper, however it does not seem able to do so.

A lot of its so called news, is just whatever the hell business, or other entities tells them. They print press releases word for word, and never question the content.

A good example is the closing of the mills in Quesnel and Houston. This should have been a front line story, and many questions should have been asked like

A. Are you still getting beetle killed timber for 25 cents a square metre??

B. How much extra money a year do you make when the US dollar, goes down.

C. Are you adding any shifts to your remaining mills to pick up the production that will be lost from Quesnel and Houston, if so how many shifts, and what mills will pick up this slack.

D. Once the price of lumber exceeds $300.00 fbm, the 10/15% export tax on lumber is eliminated. How much extra money per year will you generate because of the elimination of this tax,

E. With all the different ways that you will generate huge profits for the next few years in the lumber industry, do still feel you should get this timber for 25 cents a square metre???

etc; etc; etc;

If we are rid of the Citizen newspaper, how ever will Chief Green get re-elected?

I’m surprised its taken this long. There is even a website dedicated to listing newspapers that have gone out of business.

What I don’t get it how papers like the Free Press are still around. It’s bad enough getting the Citizen in the AM when news is already 12 hours old but to have a paper that prints news that can be as much a 3 days old is pointless.

When there is blatant biased reporting with no teal journalism along with the internet no surprise. Tv media is also quickly going down. The audience is tired of bias and misinformation. The are not stupid.

Have to agree with people#1 on the vivid descriptive reporting of sex related reporting. What the bell was that all about. The citizen editor should be taken to task.

I would really miss the Citizen as I enjoy the local content, especially the pictures of our local athletes.

AND The Citizen do NOT allow people to pick AND choose which day they want the papers. With that attitude, no wonder people are turning elsewhere.. AND they aren’t even NICE about it when they tell you to go look up things on the internet

Citzen may well be next …say within 24 months. I hope I’m wrong . . . afterall, 250 news.com is way faster on stories and at the same time much more accurate than the Citizen …. you figure the Citizen would do more local coverage but not no more. 250news.com, keep up the good work.

I wake up to you first before I even pick up my citizen outside my mailbox.

So what do you anti union types think of CEO renumeration.

I pretty much echo what everyone else is saying here.. I cant remember the last time I picked up a hard copy “news” paper. I have my select online media sources I go to get the information im looking for and not the information or story the publisher of the day is trying to push..

Really although I don’t like the citizen its in the local interest to keep the jobs so here is hoping it can stick it out..(I don’t think Ben would agree..lol) 250 News is the best one around here for on the spot information..

Whoa there! First off, let’s be clear. The story is about the Kamloops Daily News. Not the Citizen. If you did a little bit of researching, you may know all Newspapers are at risk and much of that has to do with the Internet or radio. That’s a no brainer. Let’s not forget the geographics of Kamloops. It’s close to the city of Kelowna where it is a highly competitive market. While it’s sad to see such history after 80 years providing excellent service and news to it’s community people who have worked hard and proud at their jobs are now unemployed and it effects every one in that community. Prince George has a different market. Different geographics. You also forget how long the Citizen has been providing news,long before the radio was here. Times are changing and the Citizen doesn’t make the news they report it. The Citizen has no choice but to step up to the plate and do the best they can with those changes. Kamloops is their sister paper,it’s never easy losing jobs but colleagues who have come to mean so much to its community.