Twelve years before Canada became a country, reporters and editors at the Pembroke Daily Observer were covering daily news in the thriving lumber town and putting the paper to print each morning.
Next month, that 163-year-old tradition will come to an end.
The newspaper’s parent company, Postmedia, announced Tuesday that it will stop printing the Observer every day and instead publish once a week. Four staff, including two full-time reporters and two advertising staff, are being laid off due to the changes.
The newspaper will keep its online presence.
The switchover, planned for July 28, comes as Postmedia shutters six small-town papers across Canada and stops printing daily editions for two others: the Herald Leader in Portage La Prairie, and Kirkland Lake Northern News This Week.
The company is also looking to slash salary expenses by 10 per cent through a series of layoffs and buyouts.
The newspaper, which opened in 1855, is now down to a single reporter, Tina Peplinskie, who is tasked with delivering an entire week’s news to the community of more than 13,000 people.
When Peplinskie joined the paper 20 years ago, there were 70 staff members. They’re now down to seven.
“It’s quite upsetting that we won’t have a daily newspaper here. I think the community unfortunately will be at a loss,” she told CTV Ottawa.
The remaining staff will be responsible for reporting, editing, fact-checking, gathering advertising and putting the paper to press. The newspaper’s managing editor, Anthony Dixon, insists that the paper will continue to serve local readers.
“Today was a very rough day but you pick up the pieces and keep going,” Dixon said in a message on the newspaper’s website. “The sun will still rise tomorrow, and we will keep moving forward.”
Paul Morse, president of Unifor local 87-M, said there were “tears and shock” when the news broke.
“These are folks that have dedicated their lives to this newspaper,” Morse said.
With files from CTV Ottawa
