Extra! Extra! Carman, Altona have new papers

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/05/2020 (1996 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

This is a good news story.

During a time of media contraction, a pair of brand-new newspapers have started to deliver news to readers in Altona and Carman, two towns that were at risk of becoming print-journalism deserts.

The Carman-Dufferin Standard, led by independent publisher Lana Meier, ran its first issue May 14, while the as-yet-unnamed Altona broadsheet — to be assembled and published weekly by the team behind the Steinbach Carillon, a publication owned by the parent company of the Free Press — will hit the street Thursday.

“A lot of people might say the middle of a pandemic isn’t the best time to launch, but on the other hand, if there was a time where (news) is important to people, it’s right now,” said Laurie Finley, the Carillon’s publisher.

In the Altona and Carman areas, news coverage took a major hit in April, when Postmedia Inc., announced it would be closing down the Carman Valley Leader and the Red River Valley Echo, along with several other community publications, with final editions going out the first week of May. The demise of those papers represented the end of an era, but many community members had long felt the publications’ impact had dwindled under Postmedia’s ownership.

That left an opening for community-driven coverage, and it didn’t take very long for publishers to try to fill the void. For Meier, who also runs papers in Selkirk, Stonewall, Winkler and the Interlake, the work on expanding began almost immediately after the last of Postmedia’s ink dried.

On May 6, her phone rang: it was the economic development officer in Carman, who had read a Free Press story on Meier’s burgeoning publishing company, and he was hoping to convince her to give Carman a shot. Evidently, it didn’t take much convincing. Meier called her graphics manager to tell her that she was considering starting a paper in the town.

The manager wanted to know when.

Next week, was the answer.

By the next night, the paper had a tentative name — The Bugle — a logo, and a plan. The Carman development office did some research and found the original paper in town had been called the Standard, so it was decided the new one should pay homage.

Meier’s team quickly wrangled advertising, put together stories and shot photos. Six days after the phone call from Carman and one week after the Valley Leader’s last edition, 4,000 issues of the Standard were printed and circulated.

“We had everything in place,” said Meier. “As long as you have relevant news, and people who want to read it, then the equation is there for you to be successful. We’re certainly not going to get rich, but we’re filling a void in the market. The response has been phenomenal.”

FP Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership, which owns the Free Press, the Brandon Sun and the Carillon, is hoping for a similarly enthusiastic response in Altona, Finley said.

“We looked at the Altona area, and we thought it was a viable community that could support a paper,” he said.

The paper will be put out under the leadership of Lori Penner, the last editor of the Red River Valley Echo.

Finley said the idea is to give Altona a “true community newspaper,” and the initial reception has been strong. Nearly 20 vendors and retailers agreed to display and distribute what will be a weekly broadsheet.

The Altona paper will go to press Wednesday, and by Thursday will be on the street in Altona, with an initial circulation of 4,100 copies. While the banner will read Altona, the hope is to serve nearby communities such as St. Joseph, Gretna, Emerson and Plum Coulee.

The paper is being tentatively titled the Carillon, but Finley said the first edition will include a contest for Altona residents to decide on a name.

ben.waldman@freepress.mb.ca