Near the beginning of this year, we published a story about three major Metro Vancouver news publications shutting down: Burnaby Now, New Westminster Record, and Tri-City News.

Those publications were owned by Glacier Media, which attributed the shuttering of those news sites to economic conditions.

Now, some of the people behind those publications have launched Freshet News, “Western Canada’s first non-profit news cooperative that’s union supported, covering Burnaby, New Westminster and the Tri-Cities.”

This June, we spoke with Cornelia Naylor, one of the seasoned journalists who will be part of the new publication. Naylor told Daily Hive that one of the visions for the future was re-launching a print publication, something that still looks to be part of the plan.

Naylor had worked with Burnaby Now for over a decade.

“Our goal at Freshet News is to put community back into community journalism. We’ll tell stories that matter to the community in a way that keeps us accountable to the community. That includes a weekly email newsletter delivered to subscribers, and a planned return to a print edition, as well as opportunities to tell us how we’re doing and how we could be doing it better,” a post on the Freshet News website says.

Other key figures in the new publication include Mario Bartel, Janis Cleugh, and Theresa McManus.

Bartel and Cleugh had both spent time with Tri-City News, while McManus was a reporter with both New Westminster Record and Burnaby Now.

Cleugh said, “Around North America, corporate media is closing news outlets citing a lack of profits. But local news isn’t about making money; it’s a public service that creates connection. It’s good for democracy.”

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[–] MichaelHenrikWynn@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 day ago

That people start open newssites is good, but if it is not commercially run, the issue of the backer's influence will always be there. I still hope they make it work, but that they make clear these things.