Sun Media shuts down 134-year-old paper Midland Free Press
Midland Free Press has been shut down effective as of this week. Everything in the office was being packed up yesterday, and the last issue will be published June 20.
Midland Free Press has been shut down effective as of this week. Everything in the office was being packed up Tuesday, and the last issue will be published June 20, said Free Press freelancer M. Carolyn Black in an email to J-Source.
"I arrived yesterday morning…and the office was being packed up – computers were already gone."
Midland Mayor Gord McKay said he spoke to some of Free Press employees and was told "this week that it would be the final edition of the paper." He added that the closing is reflective of the media industry. "It really gives you pause for a newspaper that's been in the area for over 100 years. It's going to be quite a loss."
Black echoed what the shut down means for the community. "In a town our size it was nice to have two newspapers to give broader and more diverse coverage of issues that are important to our citizens. That second voice will be missed."
The Midland Free Press was a member of the Canoe Sun Media Community Newspapers. Sun Media has shut down a number of community papers in the last 18 months, including at least six in December and The Lindsay Post last week. Sun Media could not be reached for comment.
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- Lindsay Post shuts down
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The paper was founded in 1879 as the Midland Argosy and Georgian Bay District Elevator before being renamed to the Midland Free Press two years later, according to its Facebook page. It won the 2010 OCNA Better Newspaper Awards for Best Front Page of a newspaper with a circulation of more than 10,000. It was a four section broadsheet that served northern Simcoe County-Midland, Penetanguishene and Tiny and Tay townships.
