It was the front page of their Sept. 2 issue. Cut Knife Courier will cease operations at the end of September.
This newspaper was purchased by Andrea and Ray Stewart from former owner Lori Gibson. They had hoped to have a multi-year run, but with the increased cost of printing combined with reduced advertising revenue and readership, they see no alternative.
Plans are to continue printing the paper until Sept. 30 and shut it down after that unless someone steps up to take over.
“We’re more than willing to help anyone who is interested in taking over, as we know how important this newspaper is to the community,” says Ray. “That’s one of the reasons we bought the business from Lorie in the first place.”
“It’s hard to see something so vital for the community shut down,” comments Andrea, “but I just don’t see it as being viable any more. We’ve had good support from the communities, yet more and more seem to feel they can get free advertising online through Facebook and other social media, not realizing how many people they miss doing that alone. We can’t compete with the price, and people sometimes don’t see the value in the cost of advertising.”
“We will keep looking for a way to keep it going,” said Ray, “but we are not overly optimistic.”
“I guess the biggest thing we want to emphasize is that it has been an honour to serve our community in this way and we hope someone will find a way to continue this service,”said Andrea.
“We’ll do what we can to help them.”
