
Paul Samyn
Editor
Paul Samyn has been part of the Free Press newsroom for more than a quarter century, working his way up after starting as a rookie reporter in 1988.
And if you count the time he spent delivering the newspaper as a boy growing up in St. James, his connection to the Free Press goes back even further.
As a reporter, Paul wrote for every section of the paper, covered elections, wars overseas and the funerals of a royal princess and a prime minister.
The graduate of the University of Winnipeg and Red River College helped lead the Free Press’s political coverage for a decade as its Ottawa bureau chief before being named city editor in 2007.
In the summer of 2012, Paul was promoted to Editor, becoming only the 15th person to hold that office since the Free Press began publishing in 1872.
Recent articles of Paul Samyn
Toast to new year, cheers to Free Press readers
3 minute read Preview Friday, Dec. 30, 2022Free Press passes 150-year milestone with eye to future
4 minute read Preview Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2022Become a Free Press Patron: secure a future for our independent journalism
4 minute read Preview Friday, Oct. 21, 2022Faith funding making a difference
2 minute read Preview Saturday, Apr. 16, 2022It is possible to put a price on reliable local journalism
4 minute read Preview Saturday, Apr. 2, 2022Strengthening trust, credibility in complicated media landscape
3 minute read Preview Friday, Feb. 18, 2022A new year’s toast to strength, conviction, endurance
3 minute read Preview Friday, Dec. 31, 2021If only the sand running out of the 2021 hourglass also signalled the end of the pandemic.
I don’t want to be naive in my annual New Year’s Eve message to Winnipeg Free Press readers, but I desperately wish the clock striking midnight Dec. 31 would be the demarcation between the annus horribilis COVID-19 dealt us and the viral-free 2022 we all want and need.
Unfortunately, I worry the image of an hourglass representing the waning days of the year misses the mark, given what the Omicron variant is doing to us all. What seems more apt is a snow globe in which we are trapped as COVID shakes up our world in ways that seemed unimaginable when 2021 began.
This was to be the year we moved past COVID due to the vaccine. This was to be the year health-care workers finally got a break. This was to be the year lockdowns became part of the past as a return to normal became the present.
Free Press makes arts, culture coverage available free of charge; launches arts newsletter
2 minute read Preview Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2021Doctor recalls split-second decision to tackle stabber inside Seven Oaks hospital
6 minute read Preview Friday, Oct. 29, 2021Donate to keep stories of faith alive in our pages
2 minute read Preview Monday, May. 17, 2021Reader Bridge to Free Press future
3 minute read Preview Friday, Apr. 9, 2021Free Press teams up with Toronto Star
3 minute read Preview Saturday, Mar. 20, 2021The Toronto Star may boast it is Canada's largest daily newspaper, but the Winnipeg Free Press has been publishing for 20 years longer.
Regardless of each title’s claim to fame, the Star and Free Press are now working together to better serve their respective audiences and strengthen each brand.
Earlier this week, Star stories began appearing on the Free Press website, just as stories from the Winnipeg newsroom were being clicked on by Toronto online audiences.
The content-sharing agreement struck is simple and straightforward: we each have something the other doesn’t. By making use of the other’s content, each newspaper is able to offer more to its readers.