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5 | The IFP -H alton H ills | T hursday,June 4,2020 theifp.ca Shelter 519.833.2287 Thrift Shop 905.702.8661 www.uppercredit.com info@uppercredit.com Charitable Registration #893738872RR0001 a new furry family member? Adoptions are continuing with physical distancing measures in place. Please visit www.uppercredit.com for more information and to view animals available for adoption. Looking to Welcome Rent soft water Starting at$9.95 *for first three monthsmth .com 5 Mountainview Road North, Georgetown 905.877.6242 - info@culliganwater.ca Visit us today for some sound advice! Don't put up with hearing loss anymore... Georgetown's trusted choice for hearing care 360 Guelph St., Unit 44 Georgetown (In the Knolcrest Centre) 905.877.8828 FREE consultation 90 day RISK FREE trial Armstrong Ave Delrex Blvd Torstar -- a print and digital publishing company that owns the Toronto Star as well as six other daily newspapers in Ontario, 70- plus community newspa- pers, numerous news sites and digital properties across Canada -- an- nounced the roughly $52- million deal with NordStar Capital May 26. "We are committed to in- vesting in the news busi- ness, along with preserving the Atkinson Principles, as fairness and accuracy will continue to guide the pap- ers' prevailing value sys- tem," said Jordan Bitove, who along with Paul Rivett formed NordStar Capital in order to buy Torstar and take it private. (The purchase must still officially be approved at a meeting of Torstar share- holders in mid-July.) Bitove and Rivett have pledged to keep the Star true to its progressive roots. To that end, they brought former Ontario Liberal Premier David Pe- terson on board and intend to make him vice-chair. "The progressive report- ing is what we support, and quite frankly, that's exactly why we brought David in. Someone with an incredi- ble reputation who lives those values every day," Bi- tove, who was part of the group that founded the To- ronto Raptors, told The Star. Rivett also said they don't intend to hack and slash their way to success. "Our current focus is that we're excited to bring new potential revenue sources and partners to the business and find ways to grow, not cut," said Rivett, who recently retired from Torstar's largest indepen- dent shareholder Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. As far as specific plans for Torstar's community newspapers, not much has been said, at this point, but Hinds doesn't expect any major changes. "Local is key right now and we've certainly seen that in the community sec- tor. I don't see that the own- ership is really going to change that," he said. "It's really about serving those communities and being the medium of record in those communities, which Met- roland (now Torstar Com- munities) has been for a lot of those communities." Hinds noted the new owners have talked about shifting to a more "digital strategy," but added it's "something you guys have already embraced and are moving forward with." The sale of Torstar comes at a time when the al- ready struggling newspa- per industry is being fur- ther battered by dramatic declines in advertising rev- enue caused by the corona- virus pandemic. "Unfortunately, we've got huge (readership) demand at the same time when a ma- jor source of revenue, and for many the community sectors the primary source of revenue, has disappeared or has been severely cut back," Hinds said. But the pandemic has al- so revealed how vital local newspapers are to the com- munities they serve, he added. "The real silver lining is that this crisis has shown how much people rely on, and appreciate, and value their local news brands," he said. "Nobody else is telling readers in their specific communities where to get COVID testing; how many cases there are, all of that stuff... and we've certainly seen that readers have re- sponded by viewing and reading the product at hugely increased rates." Hinds said Torstar's new owners are bound to find that appealing. "It's all about eyeballs and, I think, the industry has proven, yet again, when Canadians or Ontarians go to look for information and news about their communi- ty, we know where they're looking. That's got to be at- tractive to anybody looking to run the business." - with files from Josh Rubin, Rosa Saba, Canadian Press NEWS Continued from page 1 'LOCAL IS KEY': PANDEMIC HAS SHOWN THE VALUE OF COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS, SAYS HINDS Jordan Bitove Paul Rivett John Hinds