A pair of journalists have started a free, independent newspaper in Haida Gwaii, reporting local stories for the communities of the B.C. archipelago.
Since June 6, co-founders Stacey Brzostowski and Andrew Hudson have reported, published and distributed the Haida Gwaii News to readers in the islands, which lie about 750 kilometres northwest of Vancouver.
“There are just so many things happening on our island, and we’re so spread out,” Brzostowski said. “We’re cut off from the rest of the world.”
Brzostowski has taken on the roles of publisher of the Haida Gwaii News and president of its parent company, the Gumboot Press, while Hudson, a long-time reporter, is the paper’s editor. Since its inception, the paper has attained a circulation of about 1,500.
Its bi-weekly issues feature news articles, cartoons, and photographs from Brzostowski, Hudson and other local contributors. It plans to start an opinion page.
“In the last four years, without a paper, I think a lot of stories have missed some people,” Hudson told CBC’s Daybreak North. The community’s other major newspaper, the Black Press-owned Haida Gwaii Observer, stopped printing newspapers in 2020.
Christopher Waddell, a professor emeritus of journalism and communications at Carleton University, said it’s encouraging to see two journalists open a new community paper.
“That’s fantastic,” he said. “Community news is desperately needed, and lots of places don’t have it these days.”
The Haida Gwaii News joins a handful of other recently launched or revitalized independent newspapers in the province, including the Prince George Citizen and the Alaska Highway News.
Building community
Growing up in Haida Gwaii, Brzostowski said she saw a gap in how informed residents were. Most of the people living in Haida Gwaii primarily communicate on Facebook, she said.
“It’s kind of ironic, considering we can’t share news on Facebook,” she said. Last year, Facebook’s parent company, Meta, blocked news for Canadian users, citing a new federal law that would force the platform to pay news organizations for their content. “There’s no accountability.”
While local newspapers can inform the public, Waddell said they can also build a sense of community.
“If there’s anything that can bring everyone together around various news pieces of news, that’s good,” he said. “If it makes the public better informed about what’s going on in the community, it’ll hopefully make them more active and engaged.”
He said he’s not sure how long a free physical newspaper will be profitable for the Haida Gwaii News. He said it’s much simpler to distribute news online, especially to a community spread over many islands.
Brzostowski said the newspaper is funded by ad revenue and donations through the fundraising website Patreon. She said she initially hoped not charging readers to read the news would make it easier for Haida Gwaii’s approximately 5,000 residents to pick up a paper.
“If it’s free, you’re going to pick it up and read it,” she said. “Even if you’re using it as a firestarter, you’re going to read the headlines.”
The pair said they don’t plan on keeping the paper free forever. Brzostowski said she wants to reach a point where she and Hudson can actually make some money from the paper, pay contributors, and recoup their initial investment.
Hudson said while it’s not required, people can choose to pay for the paper. It does currently accept subscriptions.
“There’s been a big disconnect in newspapers, going back ages, between the stories that people want to read and the business model that allows those stories to get out there,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve totally solved that yet, but the demand is there. People want a local paper.”
For now, Brzostowski said the paper’s been well received. She said she’s been getting donations in the mail from readers across Haida Gwaii, and the community has been engaging with the paper’s news.
Hudson said just weeks into the paper’s inception, first responders brought him in to cover a rescue near East Beach. Brzostowski said she’s heard encouragement from many in the community.
“This is a very special place,” she said. “I would not have been able to do this anywhere else.”