Government advertising revenue is a matter of life or death for Canadian newspapers: association head

The future of Canadian newspapers remains uncertain with some arguing they're in the process of a slow demise.

A report released on Friday from Statistics Canadamay support that. It indicates the newspaper publishing industry tooka 20 per cent hit in operating revenue from 2014 to 2016.

The decreases, totalling$3.2 billion, were seen across the country, butnewspapers in Ontario and the Prairie provinces seem to be struggling most.

This week, Saskatchewan lost a daily newspaper as the Moose Jaw Times-Herald printedits final edition.

Since 2014,four Saskatchewan weeklies have closed their doors, leaving71 still in operation, according toSteve Nixon, executive director of Saskatchewan Weekly Newspaper Association.

And he blames that in large part on a loss in advertising revenue and a couple of major advertisters in particular.

"I think the major problem we currently have is the trend of the government," Nixon said.

Since both the federal and provincial governments have decreased spending on advertising in newspapers, he said the papers have taken a substantial hit.

"I understand thatgovernment has to be fiscally responsible to the budget and to the people but what they are actually doing, I think, islabellingadvertising as public notice and that's a dangerous thing," he said.

Government response

The Government of Saskatchewan has seenan average 11 per centdecrease overall on advertising spending duringthe past threefiscal years. This year'sbudget allotted $22,680,030 to advertising campaigns, not limited to newspapers.

The province wouldn't break down its numbers on where its advertising dollars are spent.

In a statement, a government spokesperson acknowledged the cuts as an effort to be "mindful of taxpayers' dollars being allocated to communications budgets rather than services."

"We do have a role to disseminate important information, particularly relative to health, safety, and changes to public services; however, I do not think government is any different than any other business or organization, when looking at maximizing our audience with advertising dollars spent, nor adapting to new social platforms," said Karen Hill, media relations officer for the Government of Saskatchewan.

The federalgovernment has also let go of print ads, opting instead for cheaper online ads, according to theMarch 2016 Canadian HeritagereportNewspapers in Canada: The New Reality of a Traditional Industry.

"Between 2008-09 and 2014-15, the proportion of ad spending fell by 96 per cent for daily newspapers and 31 per cent for community newspapers while increasing by 106 per cent for the internet," according to the report.

The sweet spot

It's not all bad news, though at least one of Saskatchewan's weekly newspapers is thriving.

Moosomin, Sask.225 kilometres southeast of Reginais a hub of economic activity. From car dealerships to agriculture, the town provides plenty of advertising opportunitiesfor the Moosomin World-Spectator, the town's weekly newspaper.

"We just happen to be lucky and the people here support us," said Kevin Weedmark, owner and editor at the paper, praising hyperlocal stories and strong journalistic practices.

"If we took the corporate approach just to make as much money as possible, then we wouldn't serve a purpose here."

The town's population might be only 2,550 but it distributes about 4,000 paid subscriptions to the area each week, according to Weedmark.

Staying positive

Although the presses have come to a halt formanynewspapers across Canada, Nixon is trying toremainconfident when it comes to the future of print.

"It's the government spending that has to come back to protect the voice in these smaller communities," he said.

When asked if funding will be reinstated by the Saskatchewan government in coming years, the Government of Saskatchewan's Hill said, "print ads may certainly be considered as part of their campaigns, but each ministry and agency will consider their target audiences, and where those audiences are consuming information."