NOTL Local moving to online only

The Local has some exciting news we are ready to share with our readers and advertisers. We are embarking on the next stage of our journey, and we would love all of you to come along with us.

To embrace and adapt to the change in the way people tell us they receive their news today, we are putting all our focus on our hyperlocal news website under the umbrella of Village Media. It has been operating notllocal.com for the last year, along with other successful community news sites across Ontario, Canada, the U.S. and around the world.

When Karen Skeoch and I started The Local, we knew the days of producing a print newspaper were numbered. We thought of it as a way to establish a newspaper we believed this community we love deserved, and I can’t thank Karen enough for her role in creating and developing a quality product we have both been proud and honoured to have been a part of. We said from the beginning we would give it five years, and it has been almost exactly five years since we shared our first edition with you. Now we are preparing to share our final edition in print format, which will be delivered to your homes Feb. 28.

The Local, however, is not disappearing. It will continue, as will I in my role as editor, to produce the same quality journalism we and the folks at Village Media are known for — news that is balanced, fair and delivered with integrity.

This is a progressive, positive change, allowing us to share news with our readers daily, even hourly, in the format most people are now choosing to consume their information.

This has been a long time coming. Over the years the costs of producing and delivering a printed newspaper have increased, while print advertising revenue has decreased industry-wide. And the numbers show us how many people are already reading The Local online. We deliver 9,500 newspapers to what Canada Post tells us are all the viable addresses in town, and we have about 6,800 people who have signed up for our daily newsletter — a number that grows daily. With no subscription charge, the newsletter arrives in their inbox every afternoon. That to us is a clear indication the resources put into printing and distribution would be better directed toward our online services.

We will continue to provide all the great stories about the people in this community, the information readers want to know about what is happening in town, and the opinions of readers on any given topic — we know our very engaged population has opinions!

And we will do that without adding to the damage to the environment caused by printing and delivering a paper product, which we know is a concern to many of our readers.

Our team at The Local is a tightly-knit family, and every member is still as committed as ever to telling your stories. Our regular reporters, Mike Balsom, Sharon Burns, Owen Bjorgan with his environmental columns, Jane Andres who keeps us up-to-date on our very important community of farmworkers, Kris Dube covering municipal news, Dave Gilchrist with his photography, Donald Combe with his reviews and of course Where’s Ben — where he will be is right here along with us — are all passionate about their work and will continue to do what they do so well. Along with them we have locals who also contribute occasionally. They all understand what this community wants, and they share a commitment to being as involved as ever.

Joy Sanguedolce has built a great relationship with our advertisers and will continue to work with them. Those we have had the opportunity to speak with as this transition unfolds are onboard with exploring the world of online advertising, if they’re not there already, acknowledging the future is now.

Julia Coles, a highly experienced newspaper salesperson with us from the beginning, provided our advertisers with advice and creative themes to get their message to our audience. Julia is going to take a break and enjoy some “me” time and we will miss her insights and energy. 

If there is one really hard part of leaving our printed edition behind, it is the great people we have worked with over the years who won’t have a role going forward — Rosie our graphic designer, and Carrie our proofreader (she has written stories for us, and may show up online in that role). They are our friends, and we will continue to be, but we will miss our work relationship all the same.

While this was initially a difficult decision, it is no longer. It is the right decision, and we are delighted to be moving forward.

To come along with us, all you have to do is visit notllocal.com to read all our news, and scroll to the bottom to sign up for our newsletter to show up in your inbox at 3 p.m.

Or visit notllocal.com/daily directly to sign up.

Another opportunity, especially if you’re a morning person, is to receive our 6 a.m. daily roundup of Canadian news — sign up for it at villagereport.ca/signup.

That’s how easy it is to stay well-informed, every hour of every day, if you’re not already there with us!

Penny Coles

The Local