The ''Nanaimo Daily News'' was a Canadian

daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

published weekdays in

Nanaimo Nanaimo ( ) is a city of about 100,000 on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. "The Harbour City" was previously known as the "Hub City", which was attributed to its original layout design with streets radiating fr ...

, on

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

for 141 years until ceasing publication in January 2016. The paper's final owner was

Black Press Black Press Group Ltd. (BPG) is a Canadian commercial printer and newspaper publisher founded in 1975 by David Holmes Black. Based in Surrey, British Columbia, it was previously owned by the publisher of ''Toronto Star'' ( Torstar, 19.35%) and B ...

, which also publishes the ''

Alberni Valley Times The ''Alberni Valley News'' is a weekly newspaper in Port Alberni, on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. It publishes Wednesday and is owned by Black Press. History The ''News'' was part of David Radler's Sterling Newspapers chain in the 1970 ...

'' and the ''

Ladysmith-Chemainus Chronicle Ladysmith, originally Oyster Harbour, is a town located on the 49th parallel north on the east coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The local economy is based on forestry, tourism, and agriculture. A hillside location adjacent t ...

'', and several other

weekly newspaper Weekly newspaper is a general-news or Current affairs (news format), current affairs publication that is issued once or twice a week in a wide variety broadsheet, magazine, and electronic publishing, digital formats. Similarly, a biweekly newspap ...

s on the island.

History

George Norris founded the paper as the semi-weekly ''Nanaimo Free Press'' in 1874. It began publishing six times a week, Monday to Saturday, 14 years later in 1888. In 1902, after George Norris died, the paper was continued on by his two sons, George E. and Wilf F. Norris, who later sold the paper to Thomas Banks Booth. in 1954,

Thomson Newspapers Thomson Corporation was one of the world's largest information companies. It was established in 1989 following a merger between International Thomson Organization and Thomson Newspapers. In 2008, it purchased Reuters Group to form Thomson Reuter ...

bought the ''Free Press'' and the title eventually became ''Nanaimo Daily Free Press''. Publishers included Cec Ramsden, John Farrington, Stan Butler and Bob McKenzie, and others. In the late 1990s, the newspaper was bought by the Southam Inc. chain, which itself was part of

Hollinger Inc. Hollinger Inc. was a Canadian media company based in Toronto which was established in 1985 by businessman Conrad Black. At one time, the company was the third-largest media empire in the world. In 1996, through stock purchases, it took over con ...

This chain was, at the time, the dominant newspaper publisher in British Columbia, and also included the ''Alberni Valley Times'', ''Times Colonist'' and several weeklies. The ''Nanaimo Daily Free Press'' became the ''Nanaimo Daily News''. In 2000, along with the rest of Southam, ownership of the Vancouver Island newspapers passed to

Canwest Canwest Global Communications Corporation, which operated under the corporate name Canwest, was a major Canadian media conglomerate based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with its head offices at Canwest Place (now called 201 Portage). It held radio, ...

, then

Postmedia Network Postmedia Network Canada Corp. (also known as Postmedia Network, Postmedia News or Postmedia) is an American-owned Canadian-based media conglomerate consisting of the publishing properties of the former Canwest, with primary operations in En ...

in 2010. In 2011, Postmedia sold its Vancouver Island properties and

Lower Mainland The Lower Mainland is a geographic and cultural region of the mainland coast of British Columbia that generally comprises the regional districts of Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. Home to approximately 3.05million people as of the 2021 ...

weeklies to Glacier Media for $86.5 million. In 2013, the ''Daily News'' attracted controversy and criticism for alleged "racism" for publishing a letter to the editor that was critical of First Nations. Over 100 people, including the city's serving mayor, protested the publication. The Daily News apologized to those who were offended by the letter itself, but refused to apologize for publishing the letter under the doctrine of free speech. Later that year they published another letter critical of First Nations, and once again refused to apologize, as they considered it the role of a newspaper to protect and promote freedom of speech. In 2015, Glacier Media sold all its island papers except for the ''Times Colonist'' to Black Press. In January 2016, Black Press announced the closing of the ''Daily News'' while maintaining its separate newspaper, the ''Nanaimo News Bulletin''. The newspaper is proud of its stubborn insistence on referring to the citizenry of Nanaimo as "Nanaimoites" instead of "Nanaimoans." Local literary lore posits that the early editors of the newspapers presumed that "Nanaimoans" was too difficult for a predominantly blue-collar readership to pronounce. Despite being advised that the people of Chicago are known as Chicagoans, not Chicagoites, and that the people of Orlando are known as Orlandoans, not Orlandoites, and further that the people of Toledo are known as Toledoans, not Toledoites, the newspaper's editors remain unmoved. In 2018, the Library of

Vancouver Island University Vancouver Island University (abbreviated as VIU, formerly known as Malaspina University-College and Malaspina College) is a Canadian public research university serving Vancouver Island and coastal British Columbia. Malaspina College opened in 196 ...

(VIU) undertook a project to digitize and provide an Open Access digital archive of early issues of the ''Nanaimo Free Press'' to ensure preservation of content of regional significance, as well as to provide access for citizens and scholars.

Microform A microform is a scaled-down reproduction of a document, typically either photographic film or paper, made for the purposes of transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Microform images are commonly reduced to about 4% or of the original d ...

for the Nanaimo paper is also held by the VIU Library, by the BC Archives, and print editions of the paper are in the collection of the Nanaimo Museum.

References

External links

''Nanaimo Daily News''
– Official website
''Nanaimo Daily Free Press''
- Open Access digital archive of issues, 1874 - ninety years ago (under construction).
''News Headlines in Nanaimo from 1874 to 1934''
- Nanaimo Archives {{Black Press Defunct newspapers published in British Columbia Black Press newspapers Mass media in Nanaimo Newspapers established in 1874 Publications disestablished in 2016 Daily newspapers published in British Columbia 1874 establishments in British Columbia 2016 disestablishments in British Columbia

History

See also

References

External links