About

Hello Oxford: From the blueberry patch is our answer to the current crisis facing local journalism. The “papers of record” have disappeared or been transformed into shadows of their former selves. In Nova Scotia, this was The Chronicle Herald, which became Saltwire, which became, this year, another feather in the cap of PostMedia, an international media conglomerate with a history of squeezing every last cent of profit out of established news organizations and then selling off the remains. The motive is apparent: generate wealth at all costs, truth and social responsibility be damned.

In small towns like Oxford, most saw their local news coverage disappear long ago. The Oxford Journal held out until 2015, ending a 118-year run as the chronicle of this community’s life and times. It was unexpected, sudden, and left a void that is felt deeply even today.

In its wake, SixRivers.ca (no longer available) — an initiative of former Port Hawkesbury news director Bill Martin, now resident in Pugwash — set up shop and aimed to fill the gap, covering town, village, and county municipal council meetings and local news.

Martin’s noble efforts, which included an internet radio station with a live morning show and interviews with newsmakers, gave the central and northern areas of Cumberland County a place to have some semblance of local news coverage. Even with volunteer reporters supplementing his efforts, it was impossible to be as complete as the former area news organizations. Transcontinental Media, then Saltwire (formerly the Chronicle-Herald), acquired local newspapers such as The Springhill Record and The Amherst Daily News, both of which folded / morphed into the online digital Saltwire news portal.

Free community papers throughout the region offered token coverage of select matters of interest. These free papers, which came bundled with advertising flyers weekly, eventually boiled down into a single publication, distributed throughout the province. Readers in the Oxford area who used to find The Cumberland Wire on their doorstep, suddenly found The Casket in its place — both ironic and fitting commentary on the local journalism scene. Marshall McLuhan’s prophetic phrase was never more apt, as the medium became the message. Local news was indeed buried.

Small-town newspapers rarely make good business sense. But they are essential to ensuring that we have a population that is informed. Global mega-companies aren’t really interested in the local fire department rescuing a cat from a tree. They don’t care whether the local seniors’ club had a successful fundraising barbeque. Not much profit is to be made from publishing the minutiae of this week’s town council meeting. But the people who live here, who know the names printed in the paper, who can see themselves and their efforts as community members working together to improve neighbours’ well-being… those people are the ones we want to reach with this new local news initiative.

Journalism is more than just throwing a blog on the web and writing about whatever is happening around you. Those who have been formally trained as journalists understand the ethics of the craft, media law, matters of libel and the responsibility of addressing the context of any story. Things happen… but who is making the news, what they do, why they do it, all are aspects of a story that tend to get lost in the rush for readers / hits / likes.

The thing about societies, though, is that things continue to happen. Those things should be recorded, remarked upon, celebrated and lamented, and absolutely they should be remembered. How enduring can a society be without its history?

Without a medium for delivery, like a local newspaper, municipal governments have fewer options in which to publish public notices that they are required by legislation to share. From notices of public hearings, to advisories of service changes and impending elections, local news is essential to the goal of ensuring an informed society. In an era where everyone can shout their views to the world via the internet / social media, there is a responsibility to provide factual information when disinformation has become the pursuit of too many interested parties.

So — Hello Oxford. Mark Rushton works to bring local news coverage to the residents of Oxford and surrounding area. The extent of news coverage will expand as other contributors come aboard.

While Hello Oxford is a sister publication of Hello Dartmouth and Hello Halifax (all under the Hello Communities umbrella), both curated by Frank Orlando, Hello Oxford’s editorial decisions are entirely of the purview of Mark Rushton.
Were you a contributor to The Oxford Journal and want to continue covering the news that matters to your community? Are you a journalist / writer / poet / caricaturist / with something to say? Reach us via our contact form.

Established 3 October 2024.

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