Editorial: Changes coming to The Goat

By Spencer Hall

After much thought and consideration, I have made the decision to transition The Goat to bi-weekly publishing for the foreseeable future, starting this week.

This was not an easy decision to make, but unfortunately with ever increasing printing costs, dips in ad revenue and the herculean task of laying out a 16-page paper each week, this is the best way forward to making The Goat more sustainable while not compromising the quality of our publication.

In discussions with Laura Keil, my mentor and former owner of The Goat, we explored other options, such as increasing the cost of single copies and subscriptions or running future editions with fewer pages, however we both felt those changes wouldn’t be fair to you, our readers.

So, what we decided on for the time being is to switch to a “digital first” model, where breaking news and time sensitive stories will be posted to our website first, with our top and most newsworthy stories running in our bi-weekly print edition. This will allow us to run more stories in a timely manner, now that our coverage is no longer dependent on available space and printing schedule. 

Those who have already subscribed will have an extra 3 months added to your subscription. Please don’t hesitate to call our office at 250-566-4606 if you have any questions.

I want to assure you that we are steadfast in our mission of providing thorough and detailed news coverage of the Robson and Upper North Thompson Valleys. Thank you to everyone who’s supported The Goat over the years. By subscribing or by running ads with us either in our print editions or on our website, it allows us to continue doing the crucial work of providing local news coverage.