Keeping it real during National Newspaper Week

It’s hard enough getting some Nunavut and Nunavik community leaders on the phone, let alone asking them to pose for a selfie with a newspaper.

News Media Canada, an organization that advocates for strong online and print news media, suggested enlisting “local community influencers” to show their support during National Newspaper Week, which ran Oct. 6 to Oct. 12.

The idea was to have “notable local people” share their “passion for their local newspapers” by posting selfies holding their local newspaper.

Nunatsiaq News does get some support from northern notables. Nunavut MP Lori Idlout, for example, often retweets news stories, even though this paper has occasionally been critical of her and the NDP.

Ultimately, we skipped on News Media Canada’s suggestion to enlist local leaders to show their support for the paper because the idea felt kind of icky.

Traditionally, there’s a firewall between news organizations and the people they cover. There can be respect between the two, and even admiration. But the idea of asking politicians to endorse the media is as foreign as the idea of reporters endorsing politicians.

This year’s theme for National Newspaper Week is “Keeping it Real.” At a time when artificial intelligence is barrelling toward Canadians, it’s a reminder that real newspapers employ real journalists to gather the real news.

AI is the newest challenge facing Canada’s news industry, which has become accustomed to taking on all manner of threats.

We know some readers are critical of Nunatsiaq News. It happens everywhere. It’s not unique to this paper.

But we know thousands of readers — in Nunavut, Nunavik, southern Canada and around the world — look to Nunatsiaq as their window to Canada’s North.

It was rewarding to meet hundreds of those readers at the Nunavut Trade Show in Iqaluit last month.

Many people approached our booth to thank us for what we do and to encourage us to keep going.

Some said our website is the first thing they check when they sit down in front of the computer in the morning (quite possibly at a desk in a Government of Nunavut office).

Others told us they were happy when someone brings a copy of the print edition into their workplace where it makes the rounds among their colleagues.

More than a few said they enjoy the cut and thrust of the often controversial comments our readers chime in with at the end of our stories.

It’s no secret the comments section raises the ire of some readers, who find them too “negative.” (There’s often a misunderstanding of the distinction between “critical” and “negative.”)

However, the vast majority of comments are informed and well-articulated. They often shed more light on a particular news article, and their writers contribute to the discussion about issues that affect people of Nunavut and Nunavik.

So, as National Newspaper Week ends, we’d never discourage anyone from taking a selfie — either with the paper or with the website homepage — and using the hashtag #NationalNewspaperWeek to give us a shout-out.

But we’re comfortable knowing that Nunatsiaq News keeps it as real as possible (long before AI was a thing), strives to provide the best coverage of Canada’s North it can, and appreciates the encouragement people at the trade show shared for what we do.