The following email was sent by Saltwire (owner of the Chronicle Herald and all the former Transcon papers in Nova Scotia, PEI, and Newfoundland and Labrador) to Saltwire employees today.
Dear colleagues: There are some important changes happening to our Nova Scotia publications that I want to share with you. Specifically, these changes affect the Amherst News, Citizen Record, Truro Daily News, The News and the Queens County Advance.
As of July 1, 2018, the following changes will go into effect:
1. Amherst News and The Citizen Record will merge to become one publication. The Amherst News will also shift from a paid-for subscription publication to a free community newspaper which will be delivered to all residents of Cumberland County. Wednesday, June 27, 2018 will be the final publication date for The Citizen Record and Friday, June 29, 2018 will be the final publication date for the Amherst News in its current form. The new Amherst News will begin circulation on Wednesday, July 4, 2018.
2. The Truro Daily News and The News in New Glasgow will both shift from paid-for daily publications to paid-for weekly publications, with the Truro Daily News becoming the Truro News. Saturday, June 30, 2018 will be the final publication day for both publications as a daily product. The new publication day will be Thursdays, with the first edition printed on July 5, 2018.
3. The Queens County Advance will consolidate with the South Shore Breaker. Both publications serve the same market and this move eliminates redundancies and strengthens the Breaker, which has quickly become a beloved fixture in south shore communities.
There’s no doubt that the newspaper business has changed dramatically over the past two decades. But when a model or product is outdated, we don’t simply say there’s no other way. We evolve. Companies of all kinds constantly update their product offering to respond to the preferences of consumers and the marketplace. It doesn’t mean they’re dying, it means they’re alive and dynamic. Product evolution is not an uncommon practice and newspaper media must do the same.
Although the model is changing, we remain as committed as ever to ensuring that our communities have access to local content. We have developed a solution that delivers daily local content and a weekly package of news, analysis and entertainment delivered to the doors of the people we serve.
To accomplish that, and in addition to the weekly products in each of these markets, space for local news and events for the Amherst, Truro and New Glasgow areas will be created in the pages of The Chronicle Herald, giving residents of these communities access to daily news updates, while also receiving the content of The Chronicle Herald. This also means that the news out of these communities will be reach residents, decision-makers, influencers and politicians across the province.
With today’s announcement, there will be some staffing changes and we are saying goodbye to some team members at the related locations. I want to say a sincere thank you to these individuals for their contribution and service and wish them nothing but the best as they move forward.
As always, if you have any questions or need more information about any of these, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Sincerely, Mark
More conversion to flyer wrappers with lots of news-free and submitted content.