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WHIBYs > 0 Saturday, June 14, 1997, page 7 rOCUS The end o the road... By Doug Anderson PublisherlOwner After 25 years as Whitby's princi- pal source of news and information, the Free Press has ceased publica- tion. It should have been different. Of all the lakefront communities in Durham Region none has a stronger sense of community than Whitby and none had a Readership and distribution, the cornerstones of effective advertising, newspaper that served their com- munity as well as the Whitby Free just didn't cutit Press. But in spite of exceptional readership, the Free Press never achieved the same level of recognition with the ad- vertisers. In a very competitive advertising market, advertisers were turned off by any message more complicated than price. Readership and distribution, the corner- stones of effective advertising, just didn't cut it. Independent papers rely on local busi- nesses for most of their revenue because they have limited opportunity to reach the big national accounts. There are a lot fewer of local businesses than there were ten years ago and they have a lot less to spend after years of recession and brutal competition from larger and larger com- petitors. Our big-box competitor was Os- hawa This Week, part of the Metroland/Toronto Star Group. Business consolidation is driven in large part by consumer demand for lower prices, but;there's a downside that only gradually becomes apparent. Local entrepreneurs are the leaders of virtually every small community. They sit on hospital boards, li- brary boards, and town councils, and are central to every major fund-raising drive; local businesses sponsor hundreds of local There are a lot fewer of local businesses than there were ten years ago and they have a lot less to spend after years of recession and brutal competition from larger and larger competitors sports teams and form the core member- ship of the seryice clubs that contrib- ute so much time and money to wor- thy causes in the commu- nity. When lo- cal businesses disappear, so does their contribution to the com- munity. Small busi- ness is the engine of the Canadian econ- omy. It must survive and prosper. In the face of outside competition they must learn to work together. Our communities depend on it. Local government should be the leaders but Whitby's administration frequently goes out of its way to bring new competi- tors to the table, More and more land is being zoned commercial every year while hundreds of thousands of square feet is already empty. The reasons for the demise of the Free Press tend to be general and amorphous - the economic conditions, the lack of cohe- sion in the local business community and the like. But three specific reasons stand out from the rest. The first would be our competition. No, this isn't sour grapes - like all small busi- nesses, I have no problem with fair compe- tition and as a business I have always avoided innuendoes and half-truths as a means of securing the sale. I have.also re- spected our country's copyright laws and I have avoided the illegal practice of preda- tory pricing. Many small businesses will share my opinion that large competitors show little respect for either ethics or the law but there is very little they can do about it. Even if it was financially viable to pursue legal action against a competitor, the courts are hope- lessly inefficient. Laws are useless unless they are en- forced. If the true potential of.small business is to be re- alized, then larger businesses have to play by the rules. The second spe- cific reason is Brian Mulroney whose government's delib- erate policies turned what should have nicipality arranged for a half -page ad for their house tour of Brooklin to be published in the Frèe Press. We were going to contribute an additional half-page. The Town told us they wouldn't pay for it. The half-page ad ran in Oshawa This Week. This is but one of many examples. For several years we lead the fight for the*Town to release its detailed agendas for its Monday night meet- ings before the weekend so that people would know what was coming before council and would be able to make informed comments. One copy of the agenda is now placed in the public library on Saturday morning - Durham a small victory - but the media still can't get their copies until Monday. Business P Whitby needs a true community . . newspaper, but it will only be wlll cont1B profitable if the business community News lue supports it. The Free Press has spent the last six months looking for new investment and the door is still ajar. We were looking not just for dollars but also for the business leaders who had the capability of drawing the business community together for their own self preservation. Although there were expressions of inter- We are amazed that in, a period of fiscal restraint and cutbacks and layoffs, that [the Town] considered it a financial priority to pursue such a libel action against the local newspaper. been a short predictable recession into one of the longest and deepest economic down- turns ever. His policies have cost the Ca- nadian economy hundreds of billions of dollars through bankruptcies, unemploy- ment and general economic uncertainty. The third reason is the most tragic since it is so close to home. Certain elements in Whitby's local municipal government find criticism in a local paper unacceptable. The Whitby Free Press never shirked from covering the news,- good or bad. By and large we let the information speak for it- self. There was much to commend in Whit- by's government but also much to criticize. For most of the last ten years, the Free Press did not run editorials. We let the readers provide the commentary through our letters to the editor section. The half million dollar libel action that the Town.launched against·the Free Press last year was certainly the low point in our relations. We remain mystified to this day as to just what their point was. Our legal advisers (some of the best libel lawyers in the country) told us from the start that the piece they were complaining about was not libelous but the Town steadfastly re- fused to discuss the matter face to face. We know the legal expenses that we've been dragged through and estimate that the Town must have spent at least $10,000 in taxpayers' money on legal fees to pursue this. We are amazed that in a period of fis- cal restraint and cutbacks and layoffs, that they considered it a financial priority to pursue such a libel action against the local newspaper. Recently, LACAC, a volunteer heritage advisory committee appointed by the mu- est, there was nothing concrete. In the meantime, Whitby busi- nesses will discover the true cost of Oshawa This Week's advertis- ing. In the absence of competition their rates will go up and local editorial content will go down. Town Council will discover that after years playing politics with their owii advertising budget that it will now cost them a lot more. A year from now, the need for the Free Press will be clearer than it is today. Our monthly business newspa- per, Durham Business News will continue. Since its launch two and a half years ago, it has become well recognized in the business community. Some of the staff of the Free Press will take up new po- sitions with the Business News and will bring new vig- our to its operations. .a.nk