Another month, another community in British Columbia losing its largest newspaper.
The Nanaimo Daily News printed its last edition on Friday, ending 141 years in business.
At the beginning of this decade, there were 36 daily newspapers in British Columbia. Now, there are 13.
Here’s a full list of the daily newspapers (as classified by Newspapers Canada) to have been eliminated or reduced publication in this province since 2010. We’ll continue to update this list as need be.
Daily papers eliminated or downgraded
2010
- Prince Rupert Daily News
- Nelson Daily News
Black Press purchased both newspapers from Glacier Media in 2010 – but then quickly shut them down, opting to continue publishing the competing weekly paper they already owned in both cities.
2011
- Abbotsford News Daily
- Courtenay Comox Valley Record Daily
- Kamloops This Week
- Kelowna Capital News
- Parksville Qualicum News Daily
- Terrace-Kitimat-Prince Rupert Northern Daily
- Penticton Western News Daily
- Maple Ridge Tri-City News Daily
- Surrey Leader Daily
While no paid daily newspapers shut down in 2011, many free papers owned by Black Press either merged (the Maple Ridge and Langley papers became the “Golden Ears Daily”) or decided to publish less regularly (including Kelowna Capital News and Kamloops This Week, which now publishes three times a week).
2012
- No closures.
2013
- Campbell River/Comox Valley Daily
- Fraser Valley Daily
- Cowichan Valley News Leader Pictorial Daily
- Golden Ears Daily
- Victoria News Daily
The consolidated newspapers that Black Press created for many regions in Metro Vancouver and Vancouver Island were eliminated in 2013, but the smaller weekly or biweekly papers in the individual markets remained.
2014
- Kamloops Daily News
- Dawson Creek Daily News
- Peace Arch News Daily
- Vernon Morning Star Daily
Glacier Media announced the closure of the Kamloops Daily News and the consolidation of the Dawson Creek Daily News into the Alaska Highway News early in 2014. Black Press also turned the Peace Arch and Vernon newspapers into twice-a-week operations.
2015
- Alberni Valley Times
Black Press purchased every newspaper Glacier Media owned on Vancouver Island (with the exception of the Times Colonist) in December 2014, and they shut down the Alberni Valley Times (and two other Island papers) the next year.
2016
- Nanaimo Daily News
- The Alaska Highway News
One of the papers Black Press purchased was the Nanaimo Daily News, which was shut down in January. In March, the Glacier-owned Alaska Highway News, which covers the Peace River region in northeast in B.C., announced they were “returning to its roots” as a weekly newspaper at the end of the month.
Daily papers remaining
The Province
The Vancouver Sun (the two papers, both owned by Postmedia, will be merging their newsrooms)
24 Hours
Metro
Times Colonist
The Kelowna Courier
Penticton Herald
Prince George Citizen
The Trail Times
Cranbrook Daily Townsman
The Daily Bulletin (a paper in Kimberley, which is published in conjunction with the Cranbrook Daily Townsman
Other smaller B.C. newspapers that have completely closed since 2010
Quesnel Advisor (2010)
100 Mile House Advisor (2010)
Abbotsford Times (2013)
South Delta Leader (2014)
North Shore Outlook (2014)
Burnaby News Leader (2015)
New Westminster News Leader (2015)
Tri-Cities Now (2015)
Richmond Review (2015)
Oceanside Star (2015)
Campbell River Courier-Islander (2015)
Harbour City Star (2015)
Cowichan News Leader (2015)
Chetwynd Echo (2016)
Northeast News (2016)
In all of these cases (with the exception of the Chetwynd Echo), the closures have come shortly after Glacier Media or Black Press purchased the rival newspaper in the community from the other company.
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