Effective reach
Each week more than 1,000 English and French community newspapers, just like the Powell River Peak, go about the business of telling stories that matter to the communities they serve. We are at your rinks and schools. We are at your school board and council meetings. We celebrate your milestones. Our job is to cover the Powell River area and we are good at it.
Independent research shows that more than 70 per cent of Canadians read their community paper.
Our regional and national newspaper associations have met with government MPs, opposition MPs, cabinet ministers and senior bureaucrats to promote our case. We are always met with courtesy and a promise that things will get better.
In the last fiscal year, the federal government spent $75 million on advertising. More than $26 million of that went to TV ads, while another $15.5 million went to Internet advertising—an industry dominated by American-based companies like Google and Facebook.
By comparison, community newspapers saw a paltry $867,000 in total advertising from Ottawa.
A 2014 Totum Research report found that 26 per cent of Canadians don’t use social media and those who do are using it primarily for communicating with friends, 65 per cent, and sharing photos and videos, 49 per cent. Only one in five look at any advertising on social media. However, eight out of 10 adults who can’t be reached with social media can be reached with newspapers, in print, online or with a mobile device.
Your community newspaper generates debate and serves as a forum for discussion—and is also one of the few places where local MPs actually receive editorial coverage outside election season.
That’s why those MPs submit letters to the editor, columns or buy their own local advertising to share their work with the community. They know the power of your local community paper.
The federal government strategy appears to be that it’s more important to make pretty ads than to put relevant information about programs and services in front of readers of community newspapers. They’re telling you they’d rather give your tax dollars to Facebook and Google than Canadian-based companies that invest in local journalism.
Meanwhile, we’ll continue to make sure your voice is heard and your stories are told.
