Dispatches from the News Desert

Last February, Tumbler Ridge news reporter Trent Ernst got a tip that something was happening at the local high school and headed down to investigate.

As the only news reporter within 100 kilometres, Ernst’s livestream quickly gained hundreds of viewers and was subsequently later shared by media outlets around the world. But reporters like Ernst aren’t just important when international news breaks. They also cover small-town politics and events — information that’s essential for communities to function.

Reporters like Ernst are also becoming increasingly rare. Northeast B.C. has been described as a “news desert,” or a region without reliable access to news reporting, after a half-dozen community newspapers closed over the past decade. The region is not alone. Across Canada, small-town news outlets are struggling, reporters are being asked to do more with less, and communities are becoming less informed — all at a time when disinformation is making access to quality news more important than ever.

This summer, The Tyee visited the northeast to better understand how the decline in local news is affecting small-town B.C. We heard from local government officials and news professionals that there are far fewer reporters on the ground and, as a result, important information doesn’t always make it to residents. But we also found a dedicated group of reporters who continue to tell the stories that are important to their communities, despite the challenges.

This series looks at the trajectory of local journalism from the mom-and-pop news outlets of the early 20th century to the corporate media consolidation that followed and the decline in newsroom capacity over the past two decades. It profiles a rookie reporter in Fort St. John who bought his local newspaper after it closed; a broadcast journalist in Dawson Creek who covered a wave of violent crime in his community; and Ernst, the local news reporter who provided essential coverage of the tragic Tumbler Ridge shooting.

It asks a fundamental question facing many communities: What would happen if those local news reporters were to also disappear?

This series was produced through the support of the Government House Foundation and Jack Webster Foundation through the Lieutenant Governor’s B.C. Journalism Fellowship. The funders did not provide any editorial oversight.