Keeping The Times

My wife and I decided to move to the County before we decided exactly where in the County to move. Eventually, we settled on Wellington. It was a working village, a community. It had its own hockey team, bank, grocery store, hardware store, pharmacy and library, as well as its own cheerful slogan—“The coolest spot when the weather’s hot.”

What sealed the deal for me was the existence of its weekly local newspaper, the Wellington Times. It covered local politics in a serious way, and had some tough things to say about the quality of the County’s financial management. It brought news of the goings on in the community. Theresa Durning wrote a hilarious column featuring her ‘double hockey sticks’ variant cuss words. Bob Downey wrote a tempting cooking column called “You’ve got to try this.” So keen was I on the newspaper that I bought a mail subscription months before moving here.

The paper was started in 1992, and then purchased in 2004 by Rick Conroy, a capital markets advisor, and his wife Kathleen Sabyan. Rick soon turned the paper into a must-read. He turned over proprietorship of the paper to former employee Corey Engelsdorfer in 2017, although he continues to write a column.

Publishing a newspaper in a small town is hard, because you have to live among the people you are writing about. Any news that has a negative tinge to it, or any failure to recognize an accomplishment, can quickly turn into a blood feud unless cooler heads and thicker skins prevail.

Just how hard it can be was evidenced by events of the last two weeks. On March 10, the Times ran a half page, paid advertisement from “Canadian Women for Sex-Based Rights” (“Cawsbar”), which cited seven areas in which it claims policies permitting gender self-identification were adversely affecting women. (The Cawsbar organization must anticipate controversy. According to its website, three of the eight founding members’ names are pseudonyms, and the outspoken author J.K. Rowling appears as a supporter).

The paper—Corey in particular—has subsequently been pilloried on social media for its decision to run the ad in the first place, even though it publishes a disclaimer of responsibility for advertisers’ content in every issue and has done nothing to endorse Cawsbar’s agenda, A protest against the paper was held on Sunday afternoon. An advertising boycott has even been mooted.

Corey has responded to this criticism by posting a statement that he “made a mistake.” “Prince Edward County is an inclusive community. I am proud to be a part of it. I am truly sorry to those I have hurt,” he wrote.

He has not delivered one of those weak-kneed politician apologies that express ‘regret if anyone was offended by my actions.’ Nor has he tried to justify his decision on the basis that the advertiser has the right of free speech. Rather, he is saying that he made a wrong decision in running the ad in the first place. He is promising to bring a different perspective to the job. He promises to use The Times to provide a “better discussion about inclusion, diversity and equity in our community.”

The whole affair must have left Corey wondering whether it was worth his while to continue to publish the paper. And it has left me wondering what this community would be like if it didn’t have a paper like The Times.

As I see it, the paper has three main attributes. First and foremost, it is a community newspaper, It informs, and creates a common place of knowledge that gives people something to talk about together. It binds us to one another. It records our collective history.

Second, it is an independent production, beholden to no one except its readers and advertisers to stay within the boundaries of good taste and relevance. Its articles are original, not drawn from some computer controlled memory bank. And one trademark of independence is the likelihood that you will court controversy from time to time.

Third, it is a quality production. The paper invested a great deal of effort a few years ago to freshen its design. Few papers have the capacity to go toe to toe with financial management bureaucrats. The columnists always have something interesting to say. And it covers the Dukes well.

The Times is also a free publication. It relies on advertisers for its revenue. Its business model is based on people choosing to go and get the paper, rather than having to fish it out of a puddle in their driveway. They notice the advertisements because they read the paper carefully. Its readers are loyal: the Times office often gets calls on a Wednesday morning if people don’t get their paper delivered by the usual time.

All in all, I couldn’t imagine a Wellington without The Times. I hope that Corey banishes any thought of quitting his job—and that he gets a chance to make good on his promise.

dsimmonds@wellingtontimes.ca