On May 17, the Whitehorse Daily Star—one of Canada’s last independent newspapers, having “dawned in 1899 as a tent,” according to its editor—ended a 124-year run. For contributing writer Rhiannon Russell, who covered the Star’s final edition in a story for our website, its demise was only a matter of time. “[N]ewspapers aren’t a viable business anymore,” she explains. “Canadians increasingly get their news online, and advertiser dollars have followed suit.”
The mourning touched off by the announcement of the Star’s closure was a reminder that the Northern outlet, which had housed its own printing press, was more than another failed business. A shuttered newsroom, Russell writes, is a civic catastrophe, resulting in “institutions not being held to account and important stories going uncovered.” For those of us lucky enough to still be in the game—still publishing journalism, still fighting to outrun changing habits and technology—such closures make it more urgent we get it right.
