The challenges of local journalism

This month, Alberta Views published a seven page exposé that struck a deep chord with me, not because it was about someone like me, but because it was about me! About your newspaper! About the fight I never wanted to lead, but one I could no longer ignore.

As the owner and editor of a small town newspaper in Crowsnest Pass, I’ve spent years navigating the challenges that come with local journalism. We’ve weathered budget cuts, shrinking ad revenue, and the increasing pressure to do more with less. We show up to cover council meetings, community events, hockey games, and school fundraisers because we believe people deserve to know what’s happening in their community.

But over the past decade, a new challenge has emerged, one that threatens the very survival of papers like ours. Tech giants like Google and Meta have built their empires by distributing journalism they didn’t produce and selling ads against it, while giving virtually nothing back to the publishers who created that work in the first place.

It’s not just unfair, it’s unsustainable.

That’s why I joined the national class action lawsuit against Google and Meta. It’s a case rooted in basic principles: if you profit from someone else’s work, you should pay for it. For too long, these companies have used their market power to vacuum up our headlines and reporting, distribute them widely, and collect ad dollars, while the people doing the actual work are left behind.

This lawsuit isn’t about nostalgia or resisting progress. It’s about protecting the future of journalism in Canada. When small papers close, no one fills the gap. Democracy suffers, transparency disappears, and communities are left without a voice. No algorithm will sit through a five-hour municipal budget meeting or ask tough questions at a school board hearing. No automated feed will write a thoughtful obituary or profile the Grade 12 student who just won a provincial scholarship.

Local journalism isn’t a luxury. It’s the diary of the community. And when it’s gone, it doesn’t come back.

I didn’t set out to take on Google and Meta. Like many small publishers, I was focused on just getting the next edition out the door. But when the opportunity came to join this legal effort, I knew it was time to take a stand, not just for my paper, but for every newsroom in every small town across the country.

Being featured in Alberta Views was both humbling and affirming. The article didn’t just tell my story, it captured the larger struggle of local media across Canada. It reminded me that our fight is part of something bigger, a national movement of publishers who are saying enough is enough. We’re tired of being exploited. We’re tired of being told that journalism doesn’t matter. And we’re not going to stay quiet about it.

This is a critical moment for Canadian journalism. The outcome of this case will help determine whether future generations still have access to trusted, local reporting, or whether news becomes just another commodity filtered through the lens of corporate algorithms.

So yes, I’m suing because I want a future. A future where local newspapers can survive, where reporters are paid fairly, and where communities like Crowsnest Pass still have someone watching, asking questions, and telling the stories that matter.

If we win, we all win. And until then, we need your support more than ever. Subscribe to the Pass Herald, share its stories, and remind others that journalism isn’t free, it’s a public good worth fighting for. 

Because of you, our faithful subscribers who have stuck with us, we will keep our paper alive, even as so many others fade away.