From Karli Zschogner, 

Inuvik

Dear editor;

The dissolution of the 59-year-old Inuvik Drum, one of the most northern physical and online newspapers as well as its in-person reporter position, is a great loss for showcasing and archiving life, history and pursuit of accountability and objectivity for the eight Western Arctic GwichSA国际影视传媒檌n and Inuvialuit communities and their southern followers.

SA国际影视传媒淚t will be hard on the locals that always read it, especially the Elders and [those who] don't know how to go online to read it,SA国际影视传媒� says 60-year-old Wayne Allen, who I sit with, flipping a 1997 archive of Inuvik Drum in the Inuvik Library.

He says he is one of the community members who does not go online to look at news, rather he's reliant on picking up a physical paper to see whatSA国际影视传媒檚 been going on in his community or looking through archives. He says, like many community members, he most often finds the most value in reading the paper to see friends and family members from the photography taken at community events.

In this digital age it is easier than ever to work virtually from interviewing to asking for photo submissions. However, having worked as a video journalist in the Beaufort Delta for three years now, ISA国际影视传媒檝e found that there is truly nothing that compares to that face-to-face contact, especially building trust.

In a community that has faced feeling exploited from decades of research and transient movement, messaging people virtually while under deadline pressure with no prior introductions feels exploitative and extractive. Living within the community, people expressed that they are willing to share with me when they would not with others because of that local relationship-building.

In our rural and Northern communities that still SA国际影视传媒榬elySA国际影视传媒� on Facebook for getting updates, the ongoing Meta Canadian news ban since the June 2023 wildfires, has added to the strain on local news publishers. Inuvik youth Race Vittrekwa-Blake and I worked together on a video interview project to highlight the impacts of the Meta Canadian news ban since the 2023 NWT wildfires.

Publishers beware that as budget-cut decisions are being made, to take seriously trauma-informed reporting and the importance of building trust with your reporters, and the best ways to do that is hire those involved in the community.

When organizations centralize their work in cities, it tends to perpetuate a rural and urban divide and disconnect from the realities of life and experiences.

With Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigning and building Poilievre-Conservative popularity and open commitments to cut CBC budgets, Northern communities have to brace that the CBC Inuvik bureau could be one of the next bureaus to close.

However, hope exists in rejecting public apathy towards journalism and storytelling initiatives. Released this past May in partnership with organizations such as the Canadian Association of Journalists and the Local News Research Project was SA国际影视传媒楩unding Journalism: A Guide to Philanthropic Support to Canadian Media.SA国际影视传媒� Locally, for print-digital, remains the Tusaayaksat Magazine and restarting Nipaturuq paper zine under the Inuvaluit Communications Society, alongside its limited capacity in live and edited video content services.

In the importance of archiving local history, as the national Local News Research Project documents, librarians can help create inventories for community news access in Canada.

In the meantime, thank you for your community service, Eric and Tanya!