  When the pandemic brought the world's economy to its knees, and many businesses closed their doors, a local newspaper in Chestermere, Alberta is still standing with high hopes against all odds. They say 'desperate times call for desperate measures,' and this is what The Chestermere Anchor City News did when print newspaper sales dropped down drastically. The Anchor adopted new and trending way to keep their readership intact. They jumped on the bandwagon of online news publishing. The Chestermere Anchor City News is a local news media company serving the community of Chestermere, Alberta. The paper started in 2000 when founder and owner, Stephen Jeffrey, realized that there was no local newspaper in the region to provide local community news to the residents or no vehicle to let the growing number of small businesses to advertise their services to those residents. According to Stephen: “After the pandemic, like many other news purveyors, as we are at the mercy of advertising budgets of small business, and with small businesses closing or not knowing whether they're going to be closed, our revenues dropped by 76%.” But did Stephen and company surrender to fate? Absolutely not! With the halt in their print production in May 2020, and with hopes as high as mountains and dogged perseverance, Chestermere Anchor City News went digital. A bold step that surprisingly resulted in a large increase in their readership. “This move raised our readership by five fold.” As per Stephen’s view. None of the competition ever come close to those percentages. Loyal advertisers who believe in him and his newspaper remained onboard. Those businesses are now reaping the benefits of getting wider exposure throughout the community on the digital platform. Chestermere Anchor City News is not a new name in town; therefore, Chestermere residents remain loyal to the paper and look to them for authentic news. The articles they publish cater to a wide variety of tastes. Some like to read the local news, others the columns, while others about religion or politics. All in all, Chestermere Anchor City News has something for everyone. Covid-19 has crushed the backbone of many small businesses, Stephen takes pride in adding a new policy to their terms. Stephen ended with words depicting his hopes for the future, “I would like to see all small business, and of course, mine particularly, recover from what's going on right now. WE all rise and sink on the same tide”.  |
