For Nelson Santos, the loss of the Kingsville Reporter is a doubly felt tragedy.
Not only is Santos the town's mayor, but he would also have celebrated 29 years with the community paper in June.
Instead, the paper will publish its last edition on May 4, and Santos, like dozens of other reporters across the region, will lose his job.
"We kind of touch every square inch of our community in some form or another, and that relationship, it's really hard to describe," said Santos. "For me, it was always being able to say, you know, with a community newspaper, we want the community to get to know itself."
Postmedia announced Tuesday it would close permanently close Windsor-Essex Community Publishing, which published the Kingsville Reporter, the LaSalle Post, Tecumseh Shoreline Week, Lakeshore News, and Tilbury Times. Many of those papers have been in publication for over a century. The Kingsville Reporter has been a part of the community for 144 years.
The country's largest newspaper chain has had financial troubles for some time with the loss of ad revenue to online giants like Facebook and Google. The pandemic has added to the company's problems.
The five papers join others that have ceased publication in recent years, including the Leamington Post and the Amherstburg Echo.
Santos is proud to say he has covered stories, sometimes missed by larger publications, that have made a difference in the community.
"I still remember the first few stories that I wrote when I started back in '91," he recalled. "The pollution in our creeks and waterways and the story helped spark the clean up in our community."
Since the news came down earlier this week, Santos said he has had many messages of support.
