Loss of indie voices makes us all poorer

Terminal City expired.

The Vancouver alt-weekly didn’t have a bad run—13 years ain’t exactly easy in the newspaper business—before publisher John Kay announced the shut down Oct. 31.

Kay didn’t give reasons for killing Terminal City, but rumours abound: advertising was way down, bad management, the abundance of free dailies (Metro, Dose, 24) suddenly available in and around Vancouver took their toll.

At one time, Terminal City was biting, counterculture and alternative, but at its deathbed those times were gone. In the face of poor finances—the paper went broke in 1998 and wasn’t revived until 2001—the paper had been recreated as an entertainment paper, losing the edge and ideals that made it unique.

In other words, the shit-disturbers, misfits and malcontents who made Terminal City what it was were long gone, and in their absence the paper sold out and went mainstream.

The watering down of views and voices to appeal to a larger audience (necessitated by advertising, the sole income source for free papers) is a common complaint from readers about alternative papers. And it is a complaint that should be taken seriously, because the loss of independent papers, whether through moderation or shutdowns, threatens the quality of media.

A handful of companies own the majority of daily papers in Canada; locally, the Times Colonist, Vancouver Sun and Province newspapers, and Global and CH TV are all owned by CanWest.

Flip through their pages, take a quick look at their websites, or watch five minutes of a newscast. Chances are you’ll catch a reference to another member of the CanWest family, whether it’s a news anchor telling you to read tomorrow’s paper or a story that appears in exactly the same form across the multimedia board.

In this age of convergence, the loss of an independent voice like Terminal City’s makes public debate weaker, coverage of issues thinner, and all of us intellectually poorer.

Love it or hate it, free flowing diverse information and ideas have a symbiotic role to play in a democratic society.

Of course, journalism will never be perfect—after all, it’s just a collection of people, with their many flaws, biases and opinions—but the it strives to be something better than the sum of its parts, to offer the public stories about matters that affect them and keep an eye on the powerful.

Any one outlet may fail in that role. But a range of media voices ensures that a range of information, stories and viewpoints is available to the public—ensures, in short, that media as a whole will not fail in its role.

Most importantly, competition keeps media honest. When journalists vie for different takes on the same story, we all learn more and something closer to the truth emerges.

The shit-disturbers, misfits and malcontents of the original Terminal City and other alternative papers gives readers a diverse range of sources from which to get information. When readers are informed, they question what they hear, and in turn expect more from the media. Quality of information and reporting improves.

And when that happens, everyone wins.