Life begins at 40, someone once quipped. If that’s true then the Campbell River Mirror is a newborn.
That’s because tomorrow, the Mirror turns 40.
But with the way the newspaper industry changes these days, you can’t help but feel you’re just a babe in the woods in this day of new media, social media and media saturation.
But be that as it may, Oct. 20 1971, was the Mirror’s birthday and we’re celebrating our 40th.
Luckily, the Mirror is an active 40-year-old who is on top of the changes that have re-shaped the media landscape. At 40-years-old, the Campbell River Mirror is no longer just a stack of folded newsprint. We’re also on the Internet, Facebook and Twitter and we’re a video broadcaster. The catch phrase these days is multi-platform and we’re on so many platforms we sometimes need those platform shoes that were popular in the 70s.
On Oct. 20, 1971, newspapers were king. That upstart television was making inroads but the paid circulation paper was everybody’s main source of news both locally and nationally.
Back then a group of local businessmen pooled their resources to create the Campbell River Mirror after a concentration of ownership in the community’s other newspaper left them with no competition – never a good thing in a free market.
“All we wanted was competition, nothing more,” said Mac McDougall one of the founding businessmen.
And that’s what they provided. Once up and running, the Mirror was soon handed off to Ron Bock, its first publisher who bought the burgeoning newspaper. In the late 1980s, journalist and newspaper entrepreneur Gerry Soroka bought the paper and took it to even greater heights. In the 1990s, David Black brought the Mirror into the province’s biggest family of B.C.-owned newspapers and it has never looked back.
Today, local news is still provided by your local newspaper. Your community newspaper is still the only media outlet that focuses on your community.
At the heart of it all is a team of dedicated individuals.
Campbell River Mirror staffers, a mix of longserving individuals and eager newcomers, put their heart and soul into the job of serving this community.
And we couldn’t be happier doing it. So, although we’re in our 40s now, we have no intention of slowing down. Thanks to all our readers and advertisers for supporting us over four decades and here’s to 40 more!