Former employee reflects on Moose Jaw Times-Herald

The Moose Jaw Times-Herald has brought news to the Friendly City for almost 130 years, but the presses will be stopping in December.

The paper announced that it will be ending both print and digital versions of the daily paper on Dec. 7, 2017.

Rob Clark is the CEO of the Moose Jaw Chamber of Commerce. He started at the Times-Herald in 2001 and spent 13 years there, including time spent as a publisher.

“I understand the economics, I understand that, but to lose a daily newspaper, just shutting down, that was even more sad,” Clark said.

He said he was shocked the plug was pulled rather than just going down to three or four publications a week.

Clark said he was sad for all the staff at the paper and carriers who are affected.

“My heart goes out to them and hopefully they can find something and move on from the Times-Herald.”

The paper has been in existence for 128 years and was a major part of Moose Jaw’s history. He said that many people sit in the coffee shops with the newspaper and discuss the local events that were happening.

“That would be the news of choice in many places,” Clark said. “You were getting the whole story, your local politics, your school divisions, it’s what probably kept everyone together if they wanted to get a good quality news story from reliable journalists.”

Clark said that one of the things people would do is if they appeared in the paper, they would get multiple copies and give them to all their friends. He also said people would look through the archives, located at the local library, to find family members who have photos in the paper.

“I think people are going to see and realize they just lost a big part of the community and it’s not just an address on Fairford Street, there was more to it.”

— With files from Adriana Christianson.