When snow begins to melt and gives way to spring, rivers in BC rise and rush in response. This high water phenomenon is known as a freshet. Now, in the Tri-Cities and surrounding areas, a new paper bears the same name. Similar to the turbulent nature of the river’s flow, Freshet News sees itself “as a disruptive force in the corporate media landscape, where quality local news has been all but abandoned.” The Peak spoke with Janis Cleugh, one of the publication’s founding members, to learn more about the local paper.
Freshet News is the product of the Save Our Local News campaign, which launched on June 4 in response to parent company Glacier Media shuttering three local papers — Burnaby Now, New Westminster Record, and Tri-City News. From the campaign’s inception to Freshet News’ website launch, the founders have had “quite a journey,” Cleugh explained. “We’re learning about how to build a non-profit,” she added. “We’ve been fundraising and getting out into the community during the summer, and meeting people and hearing what they want, and largely it was they’re very much welcome to have the local news back.”
As a non-profit and worker-owned co-op, Freshet News draws funding through sponsors, advertisements, donations, and government grants. With this business model, “you don’t have to chase the numbers and satisfy the shareholders like we did in our previous employer,” Cleugh explained.
“We are responding to the community,” she added. “We’re writing stories that are meaningful, we’re spending time talking to people.”
— Janis Cleugh, co-founder of Freshet News
Without pressure to chase “the high clicks,” Freshet News can focus on stories that the publication believes will mean the most to readers.
“We’re covering a lot of city hall, and arts, and sports,” Cleugh told The Peak. “We’re going big on events. People want to know what to do on the weekends and during the day [ . . . ] we have a pretty comprehensive directory that drops every day of things you can do in your community, Westminster, Burnaby, the Tri-Cities.”
In addition to her work as a reporter and editor, Cleugh serves as board treasurer. Alongside her are her three co-founders, Mario Bartel, Cornelia Naylor, and Theresa McManus. The four currently make up the Board of Directors and will look to onboard more community members soon. All four worked under Glacier Media at their respective publications until their sudden closures. “It was incredibly disappointing when our employer shut down [ . . . ] our news outlets, in April, in the middle of the federal election,” Cleugh said. “We hope to do better.
“We’re really honoured to be back working in the same communities as we were before, and we’re incredibly happy to reconnect with people after being laid off.”
Freshet News is currently working to bring their publication into print. Those interested in reading more can find the publication at freshetnews.ca.
