The ''Nanaimo Daily News'' was a Canadian

daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

published weekdays in

Nanaimo Nanaimo ( ) is a city on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. As of the Canada 2021 Census, 2021 census, it had a population of 99,863, and it is known as "The Harbour City." The city was previously known as the "H ...

, on

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are o ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

for 141 years until ceasing publication in January 2016. The paper's final owner was

Black Press Black Press Group Ltd. is a Canadian publisher of prominent daily newspapers in Hawaii and Alaska and numerous non-daily newspapers in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada, and (via Sound Publishing) the U.S. state of Washington. Black Press M ...

, which also publishes the ''

Alberni Valley Times The ''Alberni Valley Times'' was a Canadian daily newspaper published weekdays in Port Alberni, on Vancouver Island in British Columbia until it was closed in 2015 by the Black Press. The paper is owned by Black Press, which also published the '' ...

'' and the ''

Ladysmith-Chemainus Chronicle Ladysmith, originally Oyster Harbour, is a town located on the 49th parallel north on the east coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The local economy is based on forestry, tourism, and agriculture. A hillside location adjacent t ...

'', and several other

weekly newspaper A weekly newspaper is a general-news or Current affairs (news format), current affairs publication that is issued once or twice a week in a wide variety broadsheet, magazine, and electronic publishing, digital formats. Similarly, a biweekly new ...

s on the island.

History

George Norris founded the paper as the semi-weekly ''Nanaimo Free Press'' in 1874. It began publishing six times a week, Monday to Saturday, 14 years later in 1888. In 1902, after George Norris died, the paper was continued on by his two sons, George E. and Wilf F. Norris, who later sold the paper to Thomas Banks Booth. in 1954,

Thomson Newspapers The Thomson Corporation was one of the world's largest information companies. It was established in 1989 following a merger between International Thomson Organisation Ltd (ITOL) and Thomson Newspapers. In 2008, it purchased Reuters Group to fo ...

bought the ''Free Press'' and the title eventually became ''Nanaimo Daily Free Press''. Publishers included Cec Ramsden, John Farrington, Stan Butler and Bob McKenzie, and others. In the late 1990s, the newspaper became part the Southam Inc. chain, which itself was part of Hollinger Inc. This chain was, at the time, the dominant newspaper publisher in British Columbia, and also included the ''Alberni Valley Times'', ''Times Colonist'' and several weeklies. The ''Nanaimo Daily Free Press'' became the ''Nanaimo Daily News''. In 2000, along with the rest of Southam, ownership of the Vancouver Island newspapers passed to

Canwest Canwest Global Communications Corporation, which operated under the corporate name Canwest, was a major Canadian media conglomerate based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with its head offices at Canwest Place. It held radio, television broadcasting an ...

, then Postmedia Network in 2010. In 2011, Postmedia sold its Vancouver Island properties and Lower Mainland weeklies to Glacier Media for $86.5 million. In 2013, the ''Daily News'' attracted controversy and criticism for alleged "racism" for publishing a letter to the editor that was critical of First Nations. Over 100 people, including the city's serving mayor, protested the publication. The Daily News apologized to those who were offended by the letter itself, but refused to apologize for publishing the letter under the doctrine of free speech. Later that year they published another letter critical of First Nations, and once again refused to apologize, as they considered it the role of a newspaper to protect and promote freedom of speech. In 2015, Glacier Media sold all its island papers except for the ''Times Colonist'' to Black Press. In January 2016, Black Press announced the closing of the ''Daily News'' while maintaining its separate newspaper, the ''Nanaimo News Bulletin''. The newspaper is proud of its stubborn insistence on referring to the citizenry of Nanaimo as "Nanaimoites" instead of "Nanaimoans." Local literary lore posits that the early editors of the newspapers presumed that "Nanaimoans" was too difficult for a predominantly blue-collar readership to pronounce. Despite being advised that the people of Chicago are known as Chicagoans, not Chicagoites, and that the people of Orlando are known as Orlandoans, not Orlandoites, and further that the people of Toledo are known as Toledoans, not Toledoites, the newspaper's editors remain unmoved. In 2018, the Library of

Vancouver Island University Vancouver Island University (abbreviated as VIU, formerly known as Malaspina University-College and earlier as Malaspina College) is a Canadian public university serving Vancouver Island and coastal British Columbia. Malaspina College began in 196 ...

(VIU) undertook a project to digitize and provide an Open Access digital archive of early issues of the ''Nanaimo Free Press'' to ensure preservation of content of regional significance, as well as to provide access for citizens and scholars.

Microform Microforms are scaled-down reproductions of documents, typically either films or paper, made for the purposes of transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Microform images are commonly reduced to about 4% or of the original document size. F ...

for the Nanaimo paper is also held by the VIU Library, by the BC Archives, and print editions of the paper are in the collection of the Nanaimo Museum.

References

External links

''Nanaimo Daily News''
– Official website
''Nanaimo Daily Free Press''
- Open Access digital archive of issues, 1874 - ninety years ago (under construction).
''News Headlines in Nanaimo from 1874 to 1934''
- Nanaimo Archives {{Black Press Defunct newspapers published in British Columbia Black Press newspapers Mass media in Nanaimo Publications established in 1874 Publications disestablished in 2016 Daily newspapers published in British Columbia 1874 establishments in British Columbia 2016 disestablishments in British Columbia

History

See also

References

External links