Here Publishing Inc. of Saint John, New Brunswick was sold to Irving-owned Brunswick News Inc. effective October 29, 2004.
The Saint John-based alternative weekly started in 2000 and gradually expanded to include a Moncton edition.
The Publisher profiled here in July, 2004: www.communitynews.ca/news/details.asp?contentID=1521
As part of the deal, here will continue with its Saint John and Moncton editions and will eventually expand to Fredericton. No staffing changes are anticipated.
The sale was big news in New Brunswick where web forums overflowed with comments and the CBC offered coverage of the story.
Many readers lament the perceived loss of “Saint JohnÔÇÖs independent weekly” to the monopoly that controls almost all English-language newspapers in the province.
Editor Mark Leger was quick to quell fears that the content of the paperÔÇöcelebrated for its unique and pithy toneÔÇöwill change.
“Journalists do their job, independent of whoever owns the paper,” said Leger during a CBC Radio interview about the sale. Leger started work as a reporter with the Brunswick News-owned Saint John Telegraph-Journal.
“We wouldnÔÇÖt have passed this paper on to a new owner if we didnÔÇÖt feel they would be good stewards of the paper. We care too much about it to let that happen,” he added.
Mark LegerÔÇÖs editorial about the sale is online at: http://www.heresj.com
Click here to listen to the CBC interview from November 1, 2004, in Real Audio format: http://nb.cbc.ca/saintjohn/media/here01.ram