The ''Northern Journal'' was a weekly newspaper based out of Fort Smith,

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

History

The newspaper was founded in 1977 as the Slave River Journal. In 2011, owner and publisher Don Jaque renamed the paper to expand its coverage beyond Fort Smith. The ''Northern Journal'' had a stated circulation of 4,000, as of June 2013. Coverage of the Northern Journal included Fort Smith, the N.W.T.'s South Slave region, Fort Chipewyan and the oilsands industry near Fort McMurray. Staff were based in the Fort Smith newsroom, although the newspaper also relied on freelancers across the Northwest Territories and had regular contributors based in Yellowknife. Jaque announced on March 1, 2016 that the newspaper would be closing because of "a perfect storm" of circumstances. The region's small population and business community made it difficult to keep the newspaper profitable. Most businesses had also moved their advertising to Facebook. The newspaper had also lost advertising from oil companies because of coverage of health concerns towards the oilsands shared by people living in Fort McKay and Fort Chipewyan. The collapsing oil prices of the

2010s oil glut The 2010s oil glut was a significant surplus of Petroleum, crude oil that started in 2014–2015 and accelerated in 2016, with multiple causes. They include general oversupply as Unconventional (oil & gas) reservoir, unconventional US and Canadi ...

forced most remaining businesses to withdraw advertising. The biggest shortfall came when the government of the Northwest Territories stopped advertising.

References

Newspapers published in the Northwest Territories Weekly newspapers published in Canada Newspapers established in 1977 {{Canada-newspaper-stub