Sunday, April 2, 2017

A letter to the Globe and Mail (not published)


Re When local news outlets shutter due to cuts, we all lose (April 1):

Elizabeth Renzetti quotes as follows from the Public Policy Forum’s recent report The Shattered Mirror. “Since 2010, there have been 225 weekly and 27 daily newspapers lost to closure or merger.” This does not accord with my research or with data gathered by Newspapers Canada, which show that the number of non-daily newspapers actually rose by 18 from 2011 to 2016. The number of paid daily newspapers, which I study closely, has fallen by eight since 2010. Six of those closures or mergers were by two B.C. chains that have been buying, selling, and even trading newspapers back and forth, then often closing them to reduce competition. The recently-closed Surrey Leader is the 20th newspaper lost since 2010 as a result of these dealings by Glacier Media and Black Press. The federal Competition Bureau seems not to have noticed.

Marc Edge, Ph.D.
University of Malta

UPDATE:

Stead, Sylvia SStead@globeandmail.com

Mon, 3 Apr 2017, 19:59
to me
Hello Dr. Edge:

The reference is attributed to the Shattered Mirror report https://shatteredmirror.ca/wp-content/uploads/theShatteredMirror.pdf

Unfortunately Ms. Renzetti is currently on book leave, but I believe the figure is correct in that it came from this report. Perhaps their method of counting differs from yours.
Sylvia Stead
Public Editor