The Chronicle Herald won't be saved by ads, says journalism prof

A veteran reporter and journalism professor says he believes part of the reason The Chronicle Herald won't settle with its striking workers is because management is no longer interested in journalism.

The strike at the paper is in its fifth month with no end in sight.

"I think that it certainly has become more of a flyer delivery system," Stephen Kimber said during an interview with CBC Radio's Mainstreet on Tuesday.

Money for ads

"Having those flyers to distribute — they're not paying the same dollars that an advertiser might pay for a display ad on page three or the back page or whatever — but they are paying a significant amount of money," he said.

"It is an important cash source for newspapers."

Kimber believes the quality of reporting in the paper has taken a dive since the strike started because the paper is thinner and "there's a lot more wire copy."

Ian Scott, the chief operating officer for The Chronicle Herald, has said the company had no choice but to make cuts. When the latest contract talks broke off, Scott said the company had put forward "the best deal we can offer."

"But it is one that is concessionary by nature," he said last week.

'Jobs that they're not quite ready for'

Kimber said he doesn't think people "at the very top" of the paper understand what journalists do.

"The few editors that they have who are professional are overwhelmed by young people who have been hired to take on these jobs that they're not quite ready for yet," he said.

He thinks any newspaper owner who thinks he or she can sustain a business model on distributing flyers is mistaken.

Unsustainable model

"The flyer business is going to go to the internet, as well, so that's not going to be an ongoing source of revenue," Kimber said.

Kimber noted that flyers appear to be "both the cash cow and the reason for being for the Herald these days."

He said he gets flyers on his doorstep distributed by the Herald but those tend to be ignored. Flyers that arrive with a newspaper that has journalistic content might get more attention, he said.

'A pile of flyers'

"If it was with a paper that had something in it, you read the paper and, oh, you pick up the Canadian Tire flyer, even if you don't have a particular interest at that stage in buying something," he said.

"But if all you're getting is a pile of flyers and not much else, it just goes straight through to the recycling."

Kimber said the bulk of local coverage lately tends to be "police stuff, court stuff, it's the news that's in front of you as opposed to going out and seeking news and investigating issues."

'It's sad'

Kimber said he won't be surprised if the strike never ends and the 57 remaining workers on the picket line never get their jobs back.

He said this labour dispute is certainly unusual, with workers being handed layoff notices while walking the picket line and replacement workers getting bylines in the paper.

"People will go their way and the Herald will emerge — if it survives at all — as a kind of wounded beast," he said. "It's sad."