Sask. newspaper looking for new owner – and for $1 that could be you

A recent issue of The Davidson Leader. (Laura Woodward/CTV Saskatoon)

SASKATOON — SASKATOON -- If you can pony up $1 and write a 500-word editorial, you could be the new owner of The Davidson Leader.

"I'm looking for someone who can submit a proposal where they want to keep this paper going and have the same passion for community and for the industry that I have," publisher Tara de Ryk said.

de Ryk had decided in September to close the paper by the end of the year to spend more time with her husband and three children, who live in Saskatoon, and her parents, who live in Ontario.

"I've always put the paper first and I'm getting older and I'm realizing maybe I need to shift some priorities around," she said.

However, she had no takers. Even when she bought it more than a decade ago, she thought she would be lucky to sell it. That was partly due to rural depopulation, but also because running a weekly paper isn’t everyone's cup of tea, she said.

Steve Nixon, the executive director of the Saskatchewan Weekly Newspapers Association, suggested an editorial contest to generate some interest.

"It's hard work and the pay's not great. But for me it's never been about money."

Steve Nixon, the executive director of the Saskatchewan Weekly Newspapers Association, suggested an editorial contest to generate some interest.

The business is profitable – de Ryk consistently runs a page and a half of local classifieds, she said.

"I've always found the harder I work and the harder I hustle, I'm able to generate revenue."

de Ryk got her start in the newspaper business while growing up in Tillsonburg, Ont. in the early 1980s. The father of one of her friends, a dentist, had a photocopier they used to print a school newsletter. It lasted a couple of weeks, until he shut them down because of the collect charges.

She went to the University of Western Ontario and got a job with Bowes Publishers, which had a paper in Amherstburg, Ont.

"I thought initially I'd be an investigative reporter. Maybe it was the excitement and all of that that attracted me to it. Then once I got into the weeklies and the community aspect of it, I realized that was where I was better suited," de Ryk said.

"I couldn't ask all those tough questions. I'll listen to some interviews and it's like, that's not me. I like to just get to know people more – not saying you can't when you're an investigative journalist, I just realized I found my niche in the community papers. I like to get to know people."

Her future husband was a Ph.D student at Western and got a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. She transferred to an editor positon at the Cold Lake Sun.

Then they got married, he got a job at the University of Saskatchewan and she quit the newspaper business and moved to Saskatoon.

Her husband was looking for jobs for her and found a classified listing in a Saskatoon weekly for the editor job with the Leader. She started in January 1999 and bought the business in 2003.

Her first impression of Davidson its small size, she said.

"I'm not from the Prairies so it's a bit of a shock. Everything was so utilitarian. But people were very welcoming and accepted me."

The paper previously hadn't been news focused, featuring mainly submitted photos and news releases. She came in with a journalism background and started covering things, which people appreciated, she said.

Her time in Davidson has taught her to be more compassionate and thoughtful about people and situations, she said.

"And more generous – you wouldn't believe the generosity I see in people. We may not have the same political views but everyone here will help the other person. I've seen rows of combines helping someone get a crop off because of a tragedy in a family. The way people out here pull together for a cause.

"Being from Ontario, my town was small but not in the same way. Here, truly, everyone knows everyone."

Entries are due Dec. 13 and the winner would take over Jan. 1.

About 1,000 people live in Davidson, which is 114 kilometres south of Saskatoon.

The paper has more than 1,200 paid subscribers.