Trending magazine proves The Sun is still shining

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/12/2017 (3027 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If you’ve been walking around Brandon a bit yesterday or today, or perhaps opened your subscription copy of The Brandon Sun newspaper yesterday, you may have noticed a new magazine in circulation.

For the last several months, Brandon Sun staff from all departments have been working feverishly together to create something new — a magazine-style publication the likes of which we have not attempted before.

The magazine — we have dubbed it Trending — will be a quarterly publication, distributed free to customers and to select coffee shops, businesses and waiting rooms across Westman.

As you can read in the editor’s note on page three of Trending, we’ve designed this magazine to be a reflection of the gurgling news and entertainment currents that have caught the public’s imagination. We have a talented staff here at The Sun, and we would like to show off a little of what we can do — well-researched and timely feature stories bolstered by strong art, and creative designs.

It has been a labour of love, and we are very excited with the release of this, our first edition, in the same year we celebrate 135 years in publication.

The year 2017 has gone down as a difficult one for newspapers across the country. National advertising revenues have declined, and too many newspapers have closed down based on a nudge, a wink and a handshake from larger corporate interests. Meanwhile, the debate over whether the federal government should help keep newspapers operating has drawn an immense emotional response — both for and against.

Vested interest groups — of which, let’s face it, we are one — have put new pressure on the federal government to find a way to help the ailing Canadian newspaper industry. But as The Canadian Press reported last month, the Liberal government argues that the solution to the media’s woes lies in the transition to digital platforms and more viable business models.

Apparently, the Liberals believe there is still a strong appetite for local news and that there could be a way for other local media companies to begin filling in the gaps. All this came out after Torstar Corp. and Postmedia Network Inc. announced that they would cut nearly 300 jobs and shutter more than 30 newspapers across the country — including the now defunct Winnipeg Metro.

Historically, newspapers have been at the cutting edge of new technologies, and new ideas — the bulwarks of local media, feeding radio and television stations news story ideas on local topics due to the fact that papers have traditionally had more and better resources to compete. Without doubt this is a changing landscape.

Yet small newspapers — both dailies and weeklies — remain at the heart of local communities, reporting on weekly municipal council meetings, and on matters that no large daily newspaper, television station or even radio will be able or willing to cover.

Should the federal government offer financial help to the newspaper industry? I can sense a lot of complaining out there about such a move, and it’s easy to see why there might be a backlash — Just last year Postmedia executives were awarded nearly $2.3 million in retention bonuses, and only a few months later, a third of those had left the company. Why should Canadians’ hard-earned tax dollars go to inflate the pockets of wealthy executives?

It’s a fair question. And while we certainly agree with the sentiment, it’s a difficult one to answer, for the situation is not so cut and dry. It should be remembered that the vast majority of ordinary men and women who work at media outlets across the country — who do their best to report on news and events that matter to local readers — are not media executives. They’re doing their best to bring you the news of the day.

And I am particularly proud of the crew that I work with at The Brandon Sun for all the work that they do, and the care they put into the daily grind of newspaper publishing.

So what has any of this got to do with Trending magazine? This new publication illustrates that The Brandon Sun can continue to offer strong journalism to our community, and in new and innovative ways. And whatever the federal government may say about the print industry — we’re still here and we’re still viable.

We encourage all readers to send us feedback on our first issue of Trending, to help us make it even better in the future. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

» Matt Goerzen