Community newspapers are disappearing at an alarming rate. Costs associated with printing and distribution and lack of money for salaries has taken it’s toll on small rural publications. The Terrace Bay-Schreiber news is one such example.

With so little happening in the area and a lack of staff to report on any stories that do happen the weekly paper is desperate to find solutions. In the previous issue the front page story was a plea for submissions. A few months ago the TBS News was able to finalize it’s transition to digital distribution. With so many seniors in the area this has not yet yielded any more subscribers as the physical hard copy of each issue is still the preferred method for many elderly residents to get their fill of local news. 

Kim Krause from the Schreiber Media Centre approached the library to see if there might be some benefit to both the newspaper and the media centre in pooling resources to help increase awareness of the publication and try and get more community members involved in supporting journalism in the town. As the library already has a program in place encouraging people to come in and read to the public, it was thought that if someone might be available to read the weekly paper to people, especially those with visual impairment or mobility problems, that session might be recorded and distributed via the Media Centre's Youtube channel. Currently the Media Centre averages over 1000 views in any given month so the impact of that platform would go along way in helping to grow awareness of the local newspaper. Obviously not the whole newspaper would be practical and certain articles and sections like the entertainment portion might not qualify as news. 

Sadly, the paper has been reduced to an average of 6 pages per week with 70% or more being advertising and classifieds. SMC recruited local volunteer David Costa to headline the first video version of the TBS news. In all only 4 stories were deemed acceptable to qualify for inclusion, with the first story being a rather long winded account of a recent junior hockey game….the actual front page story. When relying on volunteer talent it can often take a bit of time to just acquire the content and after many attempts, content for the first show was completed. A format was decided and editing began. Similar in design to a pod cast, care was taken to smooth out the pace and overlay matching visual content to the spoken piece.

As a first attempt at something new, the results made it obvious that this type of content had a place in the roster of the Schreiber Media Centre. It is hoped that weekly series will develop from this exercise with volunteers providing their voices to the show and having a knock off effect on the awareness of the local community newspaper.