To answer your questions, the Free Press closed in 1994 in a fight to the death battle between our owners (Thomson Newspapers) and the GCIU union. I moved to the state in 1998 to start a newspaper in Federal Way, WA, about a half-hour south of Seattle on the 5. Then I served as President/CEO of Sound Publishing which owned 17 newspapers in WA state. While there I was recruited by McClatchy Newspapers to publish the Tacoma News Tribune and, later, The Olympian in Olympia.
The remaining newspaper in the Valley is owned by Black Press, which isn’t interested in journalism, only in flyer insert revenue. It’s a rapidly changing industry.
George
George wanted to share his thoughts more elegantly so I’ve posted his new reply on Dec 29/2017.
The last picture I had published in a Courtenay newspaper. Of course, I wasn’t paid. (self promotion) Sometime in 1998 I received a letter stating that they were unable to pay for photos any more. So thus ended any news reporting of Hornby or Denman events. The remaining newspapers were concentrating on revenue from ads and flyers.
George Le Masurier had disappeared in 1994 when The Comox District Free Press lost a battle with the union. I contiued to send photos to The Comox Valley Record until the fateful correspondence arrived. This seems to be the only functioning news outlet in Courtenay. I don’t know if The Comox Valley Echo is still publishing but in those days it assumed it’s name with a vengeance. Not interested in news outside Courtenay. Just ‘echoed ‘ it’s bigger brother and told us about all the goodies we could buy in Safeway et al. However, on the bright side the Record seems to be doing more news stories. They even published something about Denman recently!(I’ve just noticed that the Echo has merged with the Record which is probably due to pressure from internet social sites)
As you may have noticed, George and I had a great and fun relationship. He treated me with respect. (Even when I had to remind him about missing money) And, what’s more important is that before the internet introduced social media the people of Denman and Hornby got to learn about what was happening in their communities. So, thanks George for those unforgettable years.
Going to take a break from this series. Even I didn’t realize how many photos I’d published in those years! Here’s a graphic of those photos I haven’t shown you. Don’t worry, they’ll all appear on the site some day.
