When long-time journalist Cornelia Naylor picked up the first copy of her newly printed community newspaper this week, it wasn’t something she had ever expected to do.

“We are reporters, we are not entrepreneurs, not publishers,” she said. 

Naylor has spent decades reporting in Burnaby on city hall, school boards and other local issues. But until recently, she hadn’t been involved with the printing and distribution.

She is one of several community journalists who were laid off in April when Lodestar, then Glacier Media, shut down three community news outlets: Burnaby Now, New West Record and Tri-City News. 

A former reporter with Burnaby Now, Naylor says the closures created a “news desert” and left about 600,000 residents without daily local news.

“Local news tells stories that other outlets won’t tell,” she added. “A bigger news outlet will come to town and cover something extraordinary that happens but only local news consistently tells local community stories that bring community members together.”

The three publications spent decades as print newspapers but in August 2023 transitioned to online-only.

But when those outlets also ceased digital publication, Naylor and fellow reporters Theresa McManus, Mario Bartel and Janis Cleugh formed a non-profit news co-operative and launched the Freshet News website in October.

This week, they launched the publication’s first print edition.

At a printing facility in Annacis Island, amid the steady whir of the printers, the team of reporters watched as a huge roll of newsprint was fed through the machinery.

“We were in tears,” Naylor said.

About 25,000 copies of the the first print edition of Freshet News are now in circulation. Over the past week, dozens of volunteers have distributed the papers across Burnaby, New Westminster and the Tri-Cities, leaving stacks at city halls, community centres, libraries, grocery stores and Sky-Train stations.

Keeping the website and the presses running has required a lot of door-knocking, online and in-person fundraisers, as well as support from local businesses and individuals, according to Freshset News. 

Naylor says the union that represents media workers, Unifor Canada, donated $5,000 to help the project.

The group also appeared before councils in Burnaby, New Westminster, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Anmore and Belcarra, seeking permission to promote their initiative and distribute materials at community centres.

Bartel, who worked at Tri-City News for more than three decades, says the loss of community newspapers weighs heavily.

“Suddenly people aren’t aware of what was going on in town,” he said. “There was no information about city hall, school boards or local sports.”

Recent research tracking media closures, shows that from 2008 to October 2025, 603 local news outlets shut down in 388 communities across Canada. More than 70 per cent of those closures were community newspapers.

Alfred Hermida, a journalism professor at the University of B.C., says the decline reflects long-term financial pressures in the industry. Whereas in the 70s and 80s newspapers could make a 30 per cent profit, that’s no longer the case, he added.

“When you have companies that are driven by profit margins, they will look at local newspapers and say the profit margin just isn’t there … it’s not worth our while.” 

Locals are hopeful the paper takes off.

Burnaby resident Charles Limchareon, who once delivered newspapers, said print offers a break from screens.

While he’s excited about the Freshset newspaper, he is skeptical about its viability.

“Everybody’s kind of super keen on that dopamine from their screens,” he said.

Naylor says the long-term future of Freshet’s newspaper is unclear due to the costs of printing, but the founders are motivated to take on the challenge.

“Knowing that the stories are gonna live on in newspapers, on somebody’s bulletin board or on somebody’s fridge inspires us to do better.”

The next print edition of Freshet News is planned for mid-January.