Image Credit: Kamloops Chronicle

By Dylana Kneeshaw

THE KAMLOOPS CHRONICLE

Kamloops Chronicle newspaper planning for first print by end of October

Oct 4, 2024 | 5:32 PM

KAMLOOPS — Two major Kamloops newspapers have closed down in the past decade — first the Kamloops Daily News in 2014, followed by Kamloops This Week in 2023. But a monthly newspaper has been announced to replace the loss of print journalism in the city.

A year to the day of the closure of the city’s last newspaper publication, the Kamloops Chronicle plans to have its first issue out on October 25.

“Lots of community support behind the first issue of the new Kamloops Chronicle paper,” interim executive director of the Kamloops Chronicle Society, Arjun Singh, tells CFJC Today.

The Chronicle will start out as a free monthly print, available for residents to grab at stores, coffee shops and offices, rather than a door-delivery format. Funded through donations and monthly contributions, Singh says the goal is to work their way to up becoming a weekly publication.

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“We’ll obviously have ads in the paper as well, but we’re trying to really build up the community support model, so if we get between 3,000 to 5,000, $10-a-month supporters in the community, we’ll be really in good shape.”

In the past 10 years, economic strain and other issues led to the closure of two longtime Kamloops newspapers, something the Kamloops Chronicle Society says it is well aware of. But Singh wants to see if the monthly publication and donation format could work in the Kamloops market.

“If we don’t, as a community, kind of stand up and say, ‘This is a great project to work on together,’ it won’t be successful,” stresses Singh. “But so far, so good. We’ve had lots of support for it. The first edition is fully funded by donations.”

The paper will have an interim editor and contributions from freelance reporting to get it off the ground. As for why it will be run through a non-profit, interim chair Tom Dickinson says the team behind the Chronicle researched mid-sized city newspaper operations in the U.S., and tried to identify the differences between surviving publications and those that went under.

“The ones that have been successful are the ones that have been non-profits or social enterprises that have brought them back,” notes Dickinson. “And so when you take a look at where the successful models are, that’s where it seems to be heading.”

Print is the focus and the Kamloops Chronicle plans to have an online presence, as well. But the non-profit society hopes the tangible, element of nostalgia will draw in those who previously made a habit of picking up a newspaper.

“Retro is there for a reason, right? It was a good idea to start with and people enjoyed it,” adds Dickinson.