Just A Gal From Glidden: Different doesn't mean gone

By Kate Winquist

Most weeks I try to find a little humour for this column. This week I'm going to be a little more serious.

I want to talk about The Rosetown Eagle, and what it's going to take to keep it going.

If you've noticed the Eagle looking a little different lately, you're not imagining things. We've started sharing most of our pages with our other Saskatchewan newspapers.

The cost of producing a newspaper continues to climb. Printing, paper, postage, wages, software. You name it. Advertising revenue hasn't climbed along with those costs.

Right now, The Rosetown Eagle isn't generating enough advertising revenue to cover the cost of producing it the way we have been.

Before the rumour mill gets fired up, let me make something very clear.

The Rosetown Eagle is not closing.

But I'm also not going to pretend the numbers don't matter.

I have a responsibility to Rosetown and the surrounding communities. I also have a responsibility to my family and the people who work with me. Ignoring the bills won't keep a newspaper alive.

So we're adapting.

Printing a newspaper isn't as simple as sending a PDF to a giant photocopier and hitting PRINT. Plates have to be made for the press, and every plate costs money. By sharing pages among our Saskatchewan publications, we can reduce the number of plates required and lower our production costs.

The local Rosetown content isn't going away.

You'll still find Rosetown news, photos, sports, council coverage and community events. What you'll also see is more regional content from neighbouring communities.

And maybe that's not such a bad thing. We're neighbours. The issues affecting rural Saskatchewan don't stop at the town limits.

Then there's Canada Post.

Oh boy.

Did you know it can cost us roughly three times as much to mail a newspaper with an individual address label as it does to distribute one without a label?

Years ago, community newspapers had a very different relationship with Canada Post. Remember when you opened your newspaper and a pile of flyers fell out?

Those flyers helped pay for your newspaper.

You don't see many of them anymore. Today, Canada Post competes for many of those same advertising dollars while also being the service we rely on to distribute our newspapers.

While I'm opening the books a crack, I might as well talk about government funding too.

Yes, community newspapers can apply for funding through the federal Canada Periodical Fund. It's not a secret. The amounts are public and anyone can look them up.

And no, receiving that funding doesn't mean the government of the day gets to dictate what we publish.

The Government of Canada's public Grants and Contributions disclosure lists $38,292 in Canada Periodical Fund — Aid to Publishers funding for The Rosetown Eagle for the period April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026. Rosetown Publishing Co. Ltd. is listed as the recipient. Your Southwest Media Group took ownership of The Rosetown Eagle on October 1, 2025 and did not receive any portion of that funding. Source: Government of Canada, Open Government — Grants and Contributions.

For the funding period running from April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026, the previous publishing company received $38,292 for The Rosetown Eagle through the Aid to Publishers program.

I became the owner of The Rosetown Eagle on October 1, 2025.

For the final six months of that funding period, I was the one publishing the newspaper and paying the bills.

Does that mean half of the $38,292 automatically belonged to me?

No.

Canadian Heritage has told me directly that how that funding was handled after the sale was up to the buyer and seller to work out as part of the transaction.

No arrangement was ultimately made between us, and none of that funding came to me.

Before I agreed to purchase the Eagle, I asked specifically about the application for the following year's funding. I was told in writing that the former owner would help with that application.

My response was straightforward: if he was willing to help with the subsidy application, we had ourselves a deal.

I kept up my end of the deal.

In March, shortly before the application deadline, I was told the application was being filled out. I was asked for a current copy of the Eagle, my signature and other information. I supplied what was requested and believed the application was being taken care of.

It wasn’t.

I later learned from Canadian Heritage that because Your Southwest Media Group owned The Rosetown Eagle by then, we were the company required to submit the application.

By the time I learned that, the deadline was long gone.

I should have confirmed the rules with Canadian Heritage myself. I didn't. That part is on me.

Would the Eagle have received another $38,292? I don't know. Funding isn't guaranteed, and I'm not going to claim money that may never have been awarded.

What I do know is that we lost the chance to apply.

So yes, I'm frustrated.

That's putting it mildly.

There are some lessons in business that are considerably more expensive than others.

Or, in the somewhat less diplomatic language of a gal from Glidden:

Sometimes it sucks to be me.

But being angry won't pay the printing bill.

I'm not looking for sympathy. I'm telling you this because it's what happened, and it affects your newspaper.

The Rosetown Eagle is my responsibility now, and my job is to find a sustainable way forward.

That means cutting costs where we can. And yes, it means talking honestly about advertising.

Here's the good news. People are reading.

We print 1,000 copies of The Rosetown Eagle every week. The Eagle's Facebook page has more than 1,600 followers, and you can find us online at rosetowneagle.com.

Together with Your West Central Voice and The Kerrobert Chronicle, our papers put 6,000 copies a week into 36 Saskatchewan communities.

What the Eagle needs now is more local advertising to go with those readers.

When a local business advertises in the Eagle, they're doing more than selling a product or promoting a sale. They're helping pay for someone to cover the council meeting, photograph the hockey game, tell the story of a fundraiser, recognize a volunteer and record all those everyday moments that eventually become the history of a community.

So here's my ask.

If you own a business in Rosetown or the surrounding area, call me at 306-463-2211 or email kate@yourwestcentral.com. I'll come and see you myself.

If you want to reach Rosetown, we can do that. If you want to reach the whole region, one ad can now run in all three of our Saskatchewan papers. Either way, we'll find something that fits your budget.

If you're a reader, tell the businesses you deal with that you saw their ad in the Eagle. It matters more than you think.

I've learned that loving newspapers isn't enough to keep them alive.

Neither is nostalgia.

We have to adapt.

So The Rosetown Eagle may look a little different.

The Rosetown stories will still be here. The photos will still be here. We'll still ask the questions, cover the community and record its history one week at a time.

The stories that matter because they're ours.

Different doesn't mean gone.