Community thrilled Summerside Journal Pioneer to return in paper format

People in the Summerside area of P.E.I. are pleased the Journal Pioneer newspaper is resuming publication.

SaltWire Network stopped publishing the Journal Pioneer print edition seven months ago citing economic challenges caused by COVID-19. It was merged with Charlottetown-based paper The Guardian, and staff were laid off. The company announced Wednesday the paper is coming back this time as a weekly publication.

"The computers are all still here, we just have to turn them back on," said managing editor Brad Works.

Staffsaidthe phones have been ringing off the hook since the paper's return was announced, with calls from readers and advertisers.

Works said it shows just how important local journalism is to the community.

"We're happy to be able to bring it back," Works said. "The fact that our ownership have the confidence in this market and the five in Nova Scotia to try this in the middle of a pandemic it's refreshing, it builds confidence in us and it's really positive for the community."

Hiring underway

Starting Nov. 4, the paper will be published and delivered every Wednesday.

However the paper's website will publish stories online daily, and some of itsstories will also be published in The Guardian.

Works said the paper is also planning to hire two more journalists though it's not guaranteed those hires will be people laid off earlier this year. He said he interviewed three very enthusiastic candidates Thursday morning.

"Even having access to a weekly publication compared to the fear that we were going to lose our paper entirely is important to the community for sure," said area MLA Steve Howard.

"It wasn't very popular to have the paper suddenly switch from the Journal to The Guardian, I can tell you that," he added, pointing out the paper, founded in 1865, is older than the City of Summerside.

'A great start'

Mayor Basil Stewart said he had been pestering SaltWire's owner, Mark Lever, with phone calls telling him the city wanted the paper back.

"People really missed the local news," Stewart said. "When you have something for 155 years and all of a sudden it's not there, it was a difficult situation to deal with, you know with everything else, with COVID, and city hall closed and businesses closed."

Stewart said he will push to have the paper published more than one day a week.

"We have our foot in the doorway now," he said.

Bruce MacDougall worked at the paper for 20 years in advertising, and is now a city councillor in Summerside. He said the paper was missed in the seven months it was gone, and he too is thrilled to see it back.

"We have to start somewhere by bringing it back as a weekly, I think it's a great start. And the support of the community will basically decide the future," said MacDougall.

The paper'smanaging editor agrees, it's now up to the people in Prince County to step up if they want to see the paper come back as a daily publication it all depends on subscriptions. Unless the paper gets more of those, it will remain as a weekly for the foreseeable future.

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