I am sad and I am frustrated for my colleagues in the Montreal Gazette. Once again, budget cuts within the local media: 25% of positions will be eliminated shortly in the newsroom of the last English-language daily in the metropolis. The news, announced recently, raises fears for the survival of the newspaper, proud of its 245-year history.
I am a proud Montrealer who loves the local mission of my company, Métro Média. One of the advantages of my current role is that I can explore and discover Montreal a little more each day. I am impressed by the fact that, five years after buying 25 local newspapers in Montreal and Quebec, including the Metro Newspaperattended hundreds of Montreal events and being born and raised on the island of Montreal, I am still discovering facets of this city that I did not know existed.
It doesn’t matter if you read content in English or French, local media plays a vital role in helping citizens navigate and discover the many things around them.
Our role is to be useful every day by serving our readers.
Of course, not all media is created equal, and some of us have indeed lost our way – but I believe there is hope. Through passion, a strong core mission and hard work by journalists on the ground, our industry will find its way. Local news will never be created from a newsroom 500 km from where its readers live.
There Gazette shaped who I am today. I started my media career there 20 years ago. Long before that, when I was a child and young adult, my family often hosted friends from Gazette. I had the opportunity to listen to incredible conversations between journalists, editors and publishers of the Gazette. I grew up listening to intense debates about local politics and community events, led by people who put their hearts into it, as proud, community-minded Montrealers.
Local media has been a part of my life since almost day one and the Gazette certainly helped shape my passion for these media.
Today, I work diligently to help ensure a positive future for the local mission of Metro. As an industry, we have a long way to go, but if we focus on improving our content and listening to our readers, the road will build itself.
Local journalism is about being constructive. It’s about living in a community. It’s about listening carefully to the community. It’s about helping the community. It’s about creating content that resonates. It’s about doing a service to citizens.
The heart and soul of any media company are its content creators. Without them, we are not relevant at all. We must do better.