STANSTEAD, QC — The Stanstead Journal, an English weekly newspaper published since 1845 in Stanstead, Quebec, published its last weekly edition this week.
It was the oldest weekly newspaper in Quebec.
In Wednesday’s edition, the paper put out a notice stating that “it is no longer a viable business and no real government help is forthcoming.”
Publisher Jean-Yves Durocher noted that he still believes that the Stanstead community needs a “paper-based” news source, and says that subscribers will still be getting a paper product about 10 times per year.
The physical office on Dufferin Street will be closed to business starting June 3, and staff will be moving out of the building in July.
In the notice, Durocher said that the Stanstead Journal will slowly have a much better web presence over the next few months.
“We have also seen a shift in our core market, which is older as it is with all newspapers,” the notice reads. “While you would never see them with a phone or a tablet two years ago, this is not the case today.”
It’s still unclear as to how much energy the paper plans to put into its online efforts.
Currently, their website is dated and has very little content and no local news available online.
A subscription to the Stanstead Journal was $45 annually in Orleans County.
