Emily Wheaton, editor-in-chief of the student newspaper The Baron, at the University of New Brunswick in Saint John, came into her role with a mission — to prove the paper’s worth to the students on campus.
“It was really important to me to prove to students that they give us $13 a semester for a reason,” Wheaton said, referring to the money the paper gets from student fees.
Her goal proved challenging, especially with some social media platforms blocking Canadians from accessing news content in response to the passing of Bill C-18, the Online News Act.
“It was kind of hard to prove that to them without the use of social media because it is such a big part of our lives.”
The Baron published its first batch of papers in December at the end of the fall semester and saw its supply of 100 copies go in a week. (Graham Thompson/CBC)
Wheaton found the answer by looking to the past and bringing back the paper in hard copy — the students could actually hold the paper in their hands, something that hadn’t been done in a decade.
The first edition in print came out in December, and it was clear they needed to print more.
“We started at 100 and then this publication, our second one, we doubled it to 200 copies because I found there was a need,” Wheaton said.
Extra! Extra! Printed newspapers are back on UNB Saint John campus
Emily Wheaton had a goal after Canadian news content was blocked on social media. The editor in chief of The Baron student paper found the solution by looking to the past.
The Online News Act, which became law last June, requires digital companies to pay news organizations when someone accesses a digital news story through their platforms as a form of revenue sharing.
In response, Meta blocked news articles and other content being posted by publishers and broadcasters from being viewed or shared by Canadians on their platforms, including those on campus, Wheaton said.
“So before, we would publish daily on our website and then we would post on Meta and Google platforms, and then students would go through those platforms to our website,” she said.
“We noticed since we can’t post on those platforms anymore, our readership dropped quite a bit.”
Google and the federal government reached an agreement in November for Google to continue to share Canadian news online in return for the company making annual payments to news companies.
Nostalgic appeal
Wheaton thought that putting out the newspaper in physical form would bridge a gap, encouraging readership among students and faculty.
“I got nostalgic when I opened the box of papers that came in December and even this month, too. It just reminded me of opening the door at my parents’ house when I was a kid and pulling the newspaper in to see what was happening,” she said.
Faculty member Miriam Jones says that seeing physical newspapers on campus after a decade made her nostaligic, and she hopes that students see the historical significance of the form. (Nipun Tiwari/CBC)
That feeling is shared by Miriam Jones, chair and associate professor in UNB’s humanities and languages department, who was excited to see physical papers again on the campus after so many years.
“I’m enjoying it as a little kind of holiday in the past,” she said.
She hopes that students find some value in consuming news in ways they may not be used to.
“It’s not just some wood pulp,” Jones said. “This is how we communicated for a very long time. This is how people learned anything about what was going on in the world. So it’s a significant object.”
Wheaton said publishing hard copies of the paper came with some surprises, including how some students reacted. (Graham Thompson/CBC)
One of the courses that Jones teaches is the History of the Book, where she talks about how newspaper use evolved over time.
“I’m referring to things all the time that for our students — they’re just theoretical. When was the first newspaper and when did we start to have weekly newspapers? These are all really significant things.”
Unexpected results
Wheaton said publishing hard copies of the paper came with some surprises, including how some students reacted.
“The biggest unexpected aspect was that students didn’t expect an actual physical paper,” she said.
“A lot of them were smelling the paper. They had never held a physical paper before, which I thought was really funny.
Arwen Holder says that physical newspapers make it easier to connect with what’s happening on campus. (Graham Thompson/CBC)
Arwen Holder, a third-year student, associates newspapers with trips to see her grandparents. She typically sticks to online sources for information.
She believes the Baron connects students to their campus, and physical newspapers bring information that some may not think to seek out online.
“So what’s on campus and what isn’t? For UNB, the Baron is the best access to news for campus information … especially for international students or people that aren’t from New Brunswick,” she said.
“The physical news copy makes it so much easier to just sort of pick it up and take a look and see what’s there.”
TORONTO – A 21-year-old man is dead after what police are describing as an “interaction” with officers during the execution of a search warrant in Toronto.
York Regional Police say their officers were executing a search warrant in the area of Evans Avenue and Sherway Gardens Road at approximately 5 a.m. Monday.
Police say officers had an “interaction” with a man.
They say a 21-year-old man suffered life-threatening injuries and was taken to hospital.
Police say the man was pronounced dead there.
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit is investigating.
The watchdog agency investigates the conduct of police officers that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault and/or discharge of a firearm at a person.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
The head of a group that helps homeless people in Saint John, N.B., says it is mourning the death of a 58-year-old man whose body was found in an encampment over the weekend.
Johanne McCullough of Street Team Saint John says John Surette was known for his kindness and for taking care of people around him.
The Saint John Police Force say Surette’s body was found in a tent near Paradise Row in the north end of the city Saturday morning.
Investigators say the circumstances of the death are not considered criminal in nature and an autopsy has been scheduled.
Surrette was found not far from where three people died last winter in two separate tent fires.
McCullough says the community will remember Surrette for his helpfulness and generosity.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
OTTAWA – Liberal House leader Karina Gould lambasted Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre as a “fraudster” this morning after he said the federal carbon price is going to cause a “nuclear winter.”
Gould was speaking just before the House of Commons is set to reopen following the summer break.
“What I heard yesterday from Mr. Poilievre was so over the top, so irresponsible, so immature, and something that only a fraudster would do,” she said from Parliament Hill.
On Sunday Poilievre said increasing the carbon price will cause a “nuclear winter,” painting a dystopian picture of people starving and freezing because they can’t afford food or heat due the carbon price.
He said the Liberals’ obsession with carbon pricing is “an existential threat to our economy and our way of life.”
The carbon price currently adds about 17.6 cents to every litre of gasoline, but that cost is offset by carbon rebates mailed to Canadians every three months. The Parliamentary Budget Office provided analysis that showed eight in 10 households receive more from the rebates than they pay in carbon pricing, though the office also warned that long-term economic effects could harm jobs and wage growth.
Gould accused Poilievre of ignoring the rebates, and refusing to tell Canadians how he would make life more affordable while battling climate change. The Liberals have also accused the Conservatives of dismissing the expertise of more than 200 economists who wrote a letter earlier this year describing the carbon price as the least expensive, most efficient way to lower emissions.
Poilievre is pushing for the other opposition parties to vote the government down and trigger what he calls a “carbon tax election.”
The recent decision by the NDP to break its political pact with the government makes an early election more likely, but there does not seem to be an interest from either the Bloc Québécois or the NDP to have it happen immediately.
Poilievre intends to bring a non-confidence motion against the government as early as this week but would likely need both the Bloc and NDP to support it.
Gould said she has no “crystal ball” over when or how often Poilievre might try to bring down the government
“I know that the end of the supply and confidence agreement makes things a bit different, but really all it does is returns us to a normal minority parliament,” she said. “And that means that we will work case-by-case, legislation-by-legislation with whichever party wants to work with us. I have already been in touch with all of the House leaders in the opposition parties and my job now is to make Parliament work for Canadians.”
She also insisted the government has listened to the concerns raised by Canadians, and received the message when the Liberals lost a Toronto byelection in June in seat the party had held since 1997.
“We certainly got the message from Toronto-St. Paul’s and have spent the summer reflecting on what that means and are coming back to Parliament, I think, very clearly focused on ensuring that Canadians are at the centre of everything that we do moving forward,” she said.
The Liberals are bracing, however, for the possibility of another blow Monday night, in a tight race to hold a Montreal seat in a byelection there. Voters in LaSalle—Émard—Verdun are casting ballots today to replace former justice minister David Lametti, who was removed from cabinet in 2023 and resigned as an MP in January.
The Conservatives and NDP are also in a tight race in Elmwood-Transcona, a Winnipeg seat that has mostly been held by the NDP over the last several decades.
There are several key bills making their way through the legislative process, including the online harms act and the NDP-endorsed pharmacare bill, which is currently in the Senate.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
