The changing landscape of local news media and what lies ahead

After working as a reporter in Kamloops, B.C., for 25 years, Cam Fortemshas called it quits.

"Probably like a lot of reporters out there, you kind of wonder about the future," he said. "I don't have a crystal ball. I just see it's a long downhill descent."

"We're in a relative economic boom here and when the next recession hits, I wonder what's going to happen."

Fortems left journalism to become an insurance adjuster.

• Kamloops' only daily newspaper closing after 80 years

The media landscape has changed drastically in the city of 90,000 over the past five years: a CBC bureau opened, the daily newspapershut down, the weekly paperincreased its publication schedule from two days a week to three, and then back down to two and the ownership of the private news radio station changed handsand laid off several employees.

• Metro Winnipeg stops publishing after Postmedia, Torstar swap

Community newspapers across the country are laying off staff and shutting down operations.

"When I first started in this business, it was quite a bit different than it is today, but there was a real sense, in my early part of my career, of respect given to reporters for their independence and their fact finding and what they did," Fortems said.

Fortems said there used to be a responsibility for people in power to answer questions from reporters, but now they hide behind public relations representatives.

How local media has changed

James Peters, director of digital news and content at Kamloops' local television news station,CFJC, said the evolution of media is indicative of the local audience's ever-changinghabits when it comes tonews consumption. He said when he first arrived in the city in 2006, online news was still a "curiosity," but now, people are online all the time.

Peters also saidprivate media outlets are primarilyin the business to make money.

"Newspapers used to be a model that used to make a lot of money," he said. "As we've seen, corporations are corporations and if something doesn't make money, it doesn't matter if it's providing the community with something it wants.If it doesn't make money, it's just not going to survive."

• Quebec government outlines $36M plan to help struggling news industry

In hisKamloopsThis Week farewell column,Fortemssuggested putting more taxpayer dollars into journalism. He told Daybreak's Shelley Joyce that though we do have theCBC, perhaps having Canadian Press reporters in every city, big or small, could improve local news coverage.

Unlike Fortems, Thompson Rivers University journalism professor Charles Hays and Peters are both confident in the future of local news in Kamloops.

"Istill think we have a lot of varied voices [inKamloops]," he said."Even thoughKamloopsDaily News isn't one of them, there still are several different options."

"I think the future of local news is bright," Hays said."News is local. A national story is important yes, but it's most important when we start thinking about how does it affect me here."