Open in full screen mode Le Gaboteur is the only French-speaking newspaper in Newfoundland and Labrador. Radio-Canada Voice synthesis, based on artificial intelligence, makes it possible to generate spoken text from a written text. Uncertain future of Saltwire newspaper company raises questions about viability of Newfoundland newspapers -Labrador. Saltwire is carrying nearly $100 million in debt and this week filed for bankruptcy protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act. Cody Broderick practices a profession that is becoming increasingly rare. He is a journalist at Gaboteur, one of the only local newspapers in the province. The newspaper is not immune to the media crisis which is shaking up the press throughout Canada.
Journalist Cody Broderick hopes Le Gaboteur, which will celebrate its 40th anniversary in October, will still be part of the media landscape for the next four decades.
We suffer from it everywhere, even here, laments Cody Broderick. We have seen a bit of financial difficulty in the past. The cost of printing is constantly increasing [and] we are seeing fewer and fewer advertisers too.
As a result, several local publications have disappeared from the Newfoundland media landscape in recent years. Cody Broderick says he is saddened by these closures, especially since newspapers play a vital role in informing remote rural areas.
Keith Gosse, journalist and union president at The Telegram newspaper, also believes that the difficulties experienced by the newspaper industry are having a negative impact on local populations.
Since Keith Gosse joined The Telegram in 1986, his team has shrunk by 75%.
It is difficult, if not impossible, to tell the stories of people who live in rural Newfoundland and Labrador. Especially when we don't have a journalist to send there, he says.
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Although the Telegramremains the largest newspaper in the province , its future is also uncertain since it is published by the company Saltwire.
For his part, Cody Broderick is relieved that the newspaper for which he works is better protected than some others.
The Gaboteur serves a population in a linguistic situation minority, he recalls. It therefore receives a subsidy from the federal government.
The proliferation of digital newspapers encourages it, too.
We are not in an IT desert, agrees the young journalist.
Based on Kyle's report Mooney