In a time when businesses are struggling to survive, the Government of Ontario has given over $340,000 to small town newspapers. There are no provisions on how this money is to be spent. Ideally it should have been used to lower ad rates, making it cost effective for local businesses to advertise in the local paper, and to build an advertiser base for those papers.
Wingham Advance Times got $21,325 of taxpayer money, apparently with no strings attached. The Wingham Advance Times is not what we use to call a “local†paper, it is owned by Metroland Media Group which owns over 100 other publications.
The Government of Canada has provided funding of:
$57,291 to The Goderich Signal-Star
$40,701 to The Exeter Times Advocate
$40,673 to The Shoreline Beacon
$32,246 to The Kincardine News
$30,603 to The Kincardine Independent
$28,518 to The Clinton News Record
$23,329 to The Citizen
$23,190 to The Huron Expositor
$22,525 to The Walkerton Herald-Times
$21,381 to The Wingham Advance Times
$21,325 to The Lucknow Sentinel
Source: http://news.gc.ca/web/article-eng.do?m=/index&nid=547549