The ''Barrie Examiner'' was a daily newspaper published in

Barrie Barrie is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. The city is within Simcoe County and located along the shores of Kempenfelt Bay, the western arm of Lake Simcoe. Although physically in Simcoe County, Barrie is politically i ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

from 1864 to 2017.

History

The ''Examiner'' was founded in 1864. Publisher William Manley Nicholson launched the paper as an alternate to the ''Northern Advance'', which already had a strong political voice in the community of over 3,500 people. In the years since then, the ''Examiner'' has changed ownership and location several times. In 1889, Nicholson sold the newspaper to Andrew F. Hunter, who later wrote two volumes of the History of Simcoe County (1909). Hunter sold his interests in 1895 to James Alexander MacLaren, a former city editor at the ''Chatham Daily Banner''. At the time, the ''Examiner'' was located at 169 Dunlop Street East. By 1909, there was a thriving competition among newspapers of the day; four weekly newspapers served the community with each presenting a different political viewpoint. In August 1914, two days before the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, a major fire changed the course of history at the ''Examiner''. Although the fire caused extensive damage to the newspaper's building and equipment, MacLaren continued to publish with the help of the rival ''Saturday Morning'' weekly, owned by brothers Fred and William Walls. MacLaren set up an office in the basement of the Ross Block and used the composing room and press equipment of the ''Saturday Morning'' to keep the paper coming out. Six months later, MacLaren and William Walls joined forces to publish ''The Barrie Examiner and Saturday Morning''. Eventually, the paper's name was shortened, although the ''Examiner'' continued to publish the paper out of the ''Saturday Morning'' offices. The successful partnership lasted 25 years, until Wall's death in 1939. The next year, the ''Examiner'' bought its competitor, the ''Northern Advance''. During the post-war years, Barrie started to boom, and the ''Examiner'' grew along with it. In 1948, the ''Examiner'' began publishing twice weekly and launched a busy commercial printing business. By 1952, the paper had boosted production to three times a week — Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Over the years, the ''Examiner'' was often recognized as one of the finest weekly newspapers in the country: it is a six-time winner of the Mason Trophy, as the best all-round newspaper in Canada. In 1957, the ''Examiner'' was sold to Thomson Newspapers Limited. The company immediately embarked on an expansion and began building a modern commercial printing plant at its new location at 16 Bayfield Street. The downtown location served as the home of the ''Examiner'' for the next 43 years. The ''Examiner'' began publishing daily on November 16, 1958. On July 28, 1995, the ''Examiner''s top story was the sale of the newspaper to Hollinger Inc. controlled by well-known Canadian businessman

Conrad Black Conrad Moffat Black, Baron Black of Crossharbour (born 25 August 1944), is a Canadian-born British former newspaper publisher, businessman, and writer. His father was businessman George Montegu Black II, who had significant holdings in Canadi ...

. In December 1999, the ''Examiner'' moved its base of operations to 571 Bayfield Street North. On August 1, 2001, Osprey Media Group Inc., headed by Michael Sifton, the former president of Hollinger Canadian Newspapers, bought the ''Examiner''. Osprey once published 32 newspapers across

. On May 31, 2007, Osprey Media was acquired by

Québecor Média Quebecor Media Inc. is a Canadian media conglomerate that owns a wide array of media outlets, as well as an internet service provider. History In 1983 Quebecor purchased the Winnipeg Sun newspaper, which had been independently run. The newspap ...

for $517 million. This move welcomed the ''Examiner'' into

Sun Media Sun Media Corporation was the owner of several tabloid and broadsheet newspapers in Canada and the 49 percent owner of the now defunct Sun News Network. It was a subsidiary of Quebecor Media. On October 6, 2014, Quebecor Media announced the sal ...

and created Canada's largest newspaper publishing enterprise. In 2015, Sun Media, including the ''Examiner'', was purchased by

Postmedia Postmedia Network Canada Corp. (also known as Postmedia Network, Postmedia News or Postmedia) is a Canadian media conglomerate consisting of the publishing properties of the former Canwest, with primary operations in newspaper publishing, news ...

Shutdown

The ''Barrie Examiner'' was one of several Postmedia newspapers purchased by

Torstar Torstar Corporation is a Canadian mass media company which primarily publishes daily and community newspapers. In addition to the ''Toronto Star'', its flagship and namesake, Torstar also publishes daily newspapers in Hamilton, Peterborough, Ni ...

in a transaction between the two companies which concluded on November 27, 2017. Following the acquisition, Torstar subsidiary

Metroland Media Group Metroland Media Group (also known as Community Brands) is a Canadian mass media publisher and distributor which primarily operates in Southern Ontario. A division of the publishing conglomerate Torstar Corporation, Metroland publishes more than 7 ...

announced the closure of the paper effective immediately.

References

External links

''Barrie Examiner''''Barrie News Index''The ''Barrie Examiner'' (1864-1975)
- INK/ODW Newspaper archive {{Torstar Torstar publications Mass media in Barrie Daily newspapers published in Ontario Publications established in 1864 1864 establishments in Canada 2017 disestablishments in Ontario Publications disestablished in 2017 Defunct newspapers published in Ontario Newspapers published in Barrie

History

Shutdown

See also

References

External links