THE STATE OF PRINT MEDIA
The constant drive of Hamilton print media is largely owed to the Hamilton Spectator, the city’s near-daily newspaper published since 1846. Sold to a parent company, TorStar, in 1999, the Spec may be owned across the lake, but it has been run, staffed, and read by Hamiltonians since it first began publication.
In August 2019, the Spec’s printing press stopped rolling. TorStar had decided to send the paper to a contracted plant. With the Spec’s final issue rolling out of the historic printing press this August, 73 full-time and 105 part-time staff will be out of work. The building itself might be sold off in an effort to cut costs. The Spec will still be in print, but printing will be outsourced to a plant outside of Hamilton.
Despite the changes, John Boynton, TorStar’s chief executive, emphasized the company’s commitment to fully supporting the Hamilton community. If the Spec building is sold, Boynton anticipates keeping the head office of the Spec in Hamilton, but they are not required to do so. The headquarter’s future location will likely be based on TorStar’s financial interests, despite the importance of the Spec in the Hamilton community. With no promises from Boynton, the future of the Spec in Hamilton is not guaranteed.
The Spec has been experiencing the same issues as other organizations in the news industry, with potential readers opting for digital media or bypassing reading altogether, where readers are being lost to the recent media ‘pivot to video’ and podcast boom. Sasha Dhesi, a Silhouette alumna and the Ontario representative for the Canadian University Press, said that the printing press’s closure is unfortunate as the city is losing an important part of the community. While she is not surprised by the move of media to a digital space, she acknowledges the downsides.
“It's really sad to know that it's not in Hamilton anymore. I used to drive by the Hamilton Spectator printing building . . . every time I came into Hamilton when I was visiting my parents … knowing that the building isn’t going to be [printing] anymore is sad,” said Dhesi.
Another blow to Hamilton print media came with the closure of Hamilton Magazine. Founded 40 years ago, the publication has focused on local news, community and arts. Hamilton Magazine ran independently for a number of years before being bought out by the Toronto-based media company PostMedia. With this summer’s issue being its last, two of Hamilton Magazine’s three employees will lose their jobs, while one will assume another PostMedia position. Marc Skulnick, Hamilton Magazine’s former editor, was unable to comment.
THE LEGISLATION
Despite the precarity of print media, the federal government has committed to spending almost $600 million over a five year period, along with providing other incentives, for big media companies to stay afloat. It is unlikely that benefits from government media bailout would trickle down to Hamilton news publications such as the Spec.
An independent panel made up of media unions and associations across the country will dole out the government incentives. Panel members include the Canadian Association of Journalists, News Media Canada and the Association de la presse francophone, among others. Independent news organizations, small media outlets and individual journalists don’t have a seat on the panel. The panel gets to decide which companies received government bailouts while also representing the interests of their organizations. The very groups with a stake in the decision are the ones making it.
"I just don't think it's the right solution. I think it carries the potential to do more harm to news agencies' credibility than it does to actually do anything more than protect existing systems in the short term," said Russell Wangersky, a columnist at the St. John's Telegram, in an interview with CBC.
While legislation at the federal level will affect large news corporations, the provincial Student Choice Initiative is likely to impact student publications across Ontario.
Proposed last year, The SCI will come into effect this school year. The guidelines mandate that universities offer students the option to opt-out of ancillary fees for any services the Conservative government deemed non-essential. Essential services include athletics and recreation, student buildings, health services and academic support. Student news organizations are classified as non-essential under the SCI.
A survey by OneClass, a Toronto-based education-technology company, said that 57.4 per cent of students would opt-out of fees to support student newspapers. Jerry Zheng, a growth marketer at OneClass, administered the OneClass survey.
“I think it will definitely mean the end of print distribution for the student newspapers,” said Zheng in an interview with the Waterloo Chronicle.
The fate of student news might not be as dire as Zheng suggests. However, the option to opt-out, if taken by a significant number of students, could effectively defund campus media. Student newspapers are responsible for holding institutions accountable, providing the student body with important information and act as training grounds for journalists. Defunding student media across the province effectively silences student voices.
“If 80 per cent opt-in we’re a bit tight on cash but we’re not ruined. If only 20% opt-in then we’re destroyed. No one else is covering university content to the same degree,” said Dhesi, “Most newspapers, especially now … don’t have the resources in the same way that student news does. Student newsrooms are probably the only place where people can find stable work in news media.”
Dhesi also reflected on her own experience in a student newsroom and the diversity of voices she found there.
“If you look at student newsrooms versus actual newsrooms, you’d be shocked at which ones are more diverse — but not really. I definitely think that losing student newsrooms and losing local media that have that effect reduce[s] the amount of people that [go on in the field] and diminish[es] the quality of journalism overall," said Dhesi.
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
While the move to the digital sphere may be the product of old industry adapting to the times, it could mean negative impacts for journalists and the free press as a whole.
“And I think when we think about what makes up the Canadian media landscape, more and more publications are dying off everyday, and we really need those … we rely on three major corporations to give us all our news, and that's just not a good thing,” said Dhesi.
Perhaps the Spec, the Silhouette and Hamilton Magazine represent different stages of the same trends. All have encountered the monopolization of the media industry, reliance on casual labour and decreasing funding or revenue. Stifling student news could snuff out future journalists before they even learn the trade. Overall, this constrains the field that holds the powerful accountable and keeps the public informed.
As for the future of student news, the Silhouette isn’t going anywhere yet. Hamilton print media has persisted despite challenges that come with over 100 years of publication. As print media in Hamilton moves toward a new era, journalists, publications and readerships must adapt with the changes. Still, news publications have always been more than just print. While the printing press may slow its roll, the voices of journalists will persist.
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In light of recent discussions made by the Student Representative Assembly concerning the fate of Incite Magazine, talks of the supposed “death of print” have once again circulated campus.
Incite Magazine is McMaster University’s creative arts and writing publication featuring student work across a wide range of mediums. The magazine, which prints three times a year, is entirely student-led and student-funded, receiving $1.02 per student annually.
Recently, the Finance Committee of the SRA made the recommendation to send Incite Magazine to referendum to determine its budget. If passed, the referendum had the potential to reduce Incite’s budget byhalf, or even remove it altogether.
When a university that arguably undervalues the arts proposes cutting funding from a magazine that serves as one of the few remaining spaces on campus for creatives, the student body should be alarmed. While the motion to send Incite Magazine to referendum failed to pass at the SRA meeting on Jan. 6, even the idea that the magazine could nix their print publications and simply “shift their operations to an online platform” has harmful implications.
It’s no secret that many publications are going digital. Just last year, Teen Vogue, a popular magazine among millennials, discontinued their print editions. As more publications shift towards an all-digital platform, advocates for print media must stand strong.
But if the content is the same online, why bother printing? Print publications are much more than their content — it’s the experience of reading a print magazine that holds value. Content is obviously important but elements of production including graphic designs and layouts add just as much value to the finished product as the content itself.
Studies have even shown that time after time, readers will continuously choose printed magazines over their digital counterparts. Unsurprisingly, after a transition to an entirely digital platform, those print readers aren’t transitioning with the publication. They’re just gone.
Consider where you’re reading this editorial. Chances are, you picked up a copy of The Silhouette offhand, flipped through the contents, and skimmed the articles that piqued your interest. As far as technology has advanced, this experience cannot be replicated online.
So no, print isn’t dead. Nor should it be. As an editor of both The Silhouette and Incite Magazine, I’ve witnessed firsthand the hard work and dedication put into creating print publications. It’s my hope that readers recognize the efforts put into each issue and stand in support of print publications.
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Miranda Babbitt
Assistant LifeStyle Editor
The art of letter writing is one that I have rarely tried to perfect, despite the instinctive happy dance that reverberates through my body once I grasp the envelope addressed to me. Perhaps this reaction seems excessive, yet every letter that has waited for me in my mailbox has been greeted with near hysteria. But it’s on a more somber note that I must admit this hysteria is mostly a result of the rarity of receiving one at all.
This honesty should grant me no mercy, as I still haven’t managed to deliver the happiness of receiving a letter to someone else. In other words, I don’t really send letters at all. And for the most part, my excuse in avoiding such a beautiful habit is one of undeniable laziness. Sending a GIF of a clip from Parks & Recreation or just a chubby kitty with an oh-so-powerful message to a far off friend is so much more tempting when I’ve just collapsed onto my bed and my procrastination coma is beginning to set in.
This procrastination coma, or shall I say the “suffocating lazy blanket” to avoid any morbidity, is a pressing issue. In fact, it’s nearly an epidemic for those of our age. We see the screen in front of us, and it’s lit up with shortcuts intended to make our life easier. The convenience of technology is inevitably tempting for a large majority of everyday activities – whether that’s looking up a last nagging homework answer, or the hours of Starbucks to make sure you can walk home with a red holiday cup, but the harrowing part of this convenience is that we’ve thrown our relationships into the mix.
We’re offered endless ways to merely scratch the surface of reaching any depth in a relationship. The ease of “liking” a photo or shooting a quick one-word message to a friend from home is the basis of most relationships sustained through Facebook. Social media outlets can make it seem as though maintaining relationships is easy, but this isn’t the case for any that we value. When someone is valued, they deserve effort, and this is not achieved by lumping them together with checking the hours of Starbucks.
An emoji in replacement of a string of explanatory sentences doesn’t help us foster the connections we have with those we value. It cheapens it. It seems to me that traditional communication, be it a phone call, a face-to-face conversation, or even letters are undervalued for the sake of convenience. And yet, I know I’m not alone when I say that effort does not go unnoticed. It’s a neon indication in an otherwise grey realm of technological methods.
A letter, for example, can succinctly demonstrate this effort. For the collection I have received over the past few years, they have instantly communicated to me so much more than the words enclosed inside. They carry a sentimental value that is no longer a part of how we communicate.
And letters have no specified audience either. They don’t just need to be for your family at home, or a friend from high school, or anyone who is literally far enough away from you that a letter would be expected. They can be the cutest pick-me-up for someone who has just had a rough week and the most intimate way to enclose some news about your life to a friend you just don’t get to see enough.
The happy dance that comes with a letter isn’t solely reserved for the recipient either. There is something so inherently satisfying with sending a letter nowadays, perhaps because it is as rare as I made it out to be in my own life. Going out to the store, buying some cheerful envelopes, a vintage postage stamp, and stickers to be sprinkled throughout the message has such a novel appeal to it. We can see the products of our efforts, package them away, and send them across the city, or world, and know that this will be held in the excited hands of someone we love.
Come the holidays, when your cheapest generic cialis own group of friends scatters in every direction as they make their way home, why not experiment with a letter or two. Even if it’s a funny story about the ugly Christmas sweater waiting for you on your bed, the message behind the cringe-inducing tale won’t be forgotten.
