Monday August 21, 2023 | LANGFORD, BC
by Mary P Brooke, Founder, Editor & Publisher | Island Social Trends
A series of news publications about the rapidly growing communities of the west shore region grew out of a small magazine in Sooke.
The series started in 2008 as MapleLine Magazine, then morphed through two weekly print publications Sooke Voice News and West Shore Voice News, and continues to this day as Island Social Trends — currently entirely online at IslandSocialTrends.ca. Think of that series from 2008 to 2023 as Phase 1.
Phase 2 of the series begins this autumn season, with the launch of a print/PDF edition of Island Social Trends.
All of these publications are published by Brookeline Publishing House Inc which has served the Greater Victoria area with publishing and marketing services since 1995.
The MapleLine genesis:
MapleLine Magazine was a colour magazine published quarterly in Sooke from 2008 through 2010. The muse for that startup by founder, editor and publisher Mary P Brooke was the evident clash of ‘old and new’ as more urban folk started moving to the small seaside town after the real estate crash in 2007.
Small town folks wanted things to stay the same. New property owners wanted to see a more urban range of services and activities. Since then, the population has grown by nearly 50% (from about 10,000 in 2007 to over 15,000 in 2021).
Meanwhile, Langford took on a growth spurt of a different kind starting around 2010 by embracing expansion to being a modern metropolis and leaving the country feel behind.
Sooke Voice News emerged in 2011:
Through all of this, Ms Brooke has been writing daily about news of the region. On the heels of MapleLine Magazine, she saw the need for more frequent news, and in 2011 launched the weekly print newspaper Sooke Voice News, printed in grayscale only but distributed free around the town of Sooke via Canada Post. That ran through 2013.
Many people in Sooke became confused by deliberate competitive marketing by another company — which called their online-only publication Sooke Pocket News but telling local people that it was the continuation of Sooke Voice News. This sort of deceptive and unruly competition in business was disappointing (especially in a small town), and actually contributed to a temporary demise of service to Brookeline’s loyal readers and had a negative impact on the family business and its employees. Doing business is not a licence to do harm.
Expansion as the region grew:
In 2014, the publication was renamed and revisioned as West Shore Voice News.
The continuing mission to support communities from a base of knowledge about their socioeconomic trends at that time then expanded to cover Langford, Colwood, Metchosin, and View Royal during 2014-2020, with publication of the weekly colour print/PDF West Shore Voice News.
As the local MLA, John Horgan, emerged as the Premier of BC, news coverage in West Shore Voice News grew to include more detailed coverage of the BC government and politics of the region.
All the issues of West Shore Voice News in 2020 (from January through mid-March) covered the early days of the oncoming COVID-19 pandemic. Digital versions of that coverage can be found online within the COVID news archive at IslandSocialTrends.ca.
Archived at the Sooke Region Museum:
Journalism about the Sooke area and west shore region — as reported in MapleLine Magazine, Sooke Voice News and West Shore Voice News — has been collected and hardbound into the permanent archives at the Sooke Region Museum, in Sooke, BC.
Brookeline Publishing House Inc owner Mary P Brooke is very pleased at the effort by Sooke Region Museum — notably Bev, Lee and Paddy — to enable the archived collection.
Editor of each issue, Mary P Brooke said this week on Twitter (now known as X): “It’s been a pleasure to report on Sooke and the westshore for so many years and I keep on doing it!.”
“The print editions shifted to online at IslandSocialTrends.ca during the pandemic,” says Brooke. “But the IST print edition is also coming out soon, to complement what readers see online,” she was pleased to announce this week.
Island Social Trends emerged during the pandemic:
When the pandemic hit in March 2020, advertisers bailed on the print edition, saying they didn’t think people would be in coffee shops, rec centres and libraries to pick up the print edition. Like around much of the world, news readers shifted significantly to expecting to find their news online.
After a pause to restructure, the fully online Island Social Trends emerged in mid-summer 2020. By autumn of 2020, daily COVID news coverage was a mainstay of the fully online publication as well as other BC news and more news from around Vancouver Island.
Island Social Trends is posted at IslandSocialTrends.ca where news is free and available to any reader, as part of the philosophy held by Editor Mary P Brooke that community news should be available without restriction.
The Island Social Trends open news availability aligns with the core function of journalism as a counterpoint to immense power that government and corporate structures have in the lives of people, their communities, businesses and organizations.
Revenues:
Premium Subscribers (who pay to get a curated Enews digest of all links from IslandSocialTrends.ca) and advertisers are the only sources of revenue for Island Social Trends.
Importance of journalism:
While social media dominance has decimated the traditional news publisher business model.across many formats (print, online portals, radio, and TV), the mission at Island Social Trends has not changed. The delivery of journalism continues.
Professional journalism is supported by the traditional news publisher business model. Reliable journalism is based on fact-checking and providing reports within context. Journalism in this way is a fundamental plank of democracy, keeping news about decision-makers and major socioeconomic forces in line with fact and societal direction.
Local news, in particular, is foundational to the news stream in Canada. In the last year or two — and particularly the last month or two (ever since the federal Bill C-18 kick-started a feud with Meta) — elected officials have been openly thanking media for the work they do.
Professional news media show up for government news announcements, events organized by agencies and non-profits, and generally provide eyes and ears for the community in a way that is factual and curated.
Mary Brooke will be giving presentations on the importance of local news media, starting this fall. The first presentation will be to Colwood city council on September 11, 2023.
Phase 2 – the Island Social Trends print edition:
It’s as if community gathering spaces and printed newspapers go hand in hand. Island Social Trends recognizes that interplay at the community level, and will soon be launching a print edition of Island Social Trends.
Think of that as Phase 2 of the print edition series. There will also be a PDF version of the print edition, available to Premium Digital subscribers. Not already a Premium subscriber? Sign up for PREMIUM NEWS here.
The Island Social Trends print edition will follow in the footsteps of the fine tradition of providing community news on the west shore and beyond.
Advertisers and subscribers welcome to help launch the new print edition. Advertisers please email to clientservices@islandsocialtrends.com and new subscribers (for the PDF version of the print edition) please email to: subscriptions@islandsocialtrends.com . Op-ed contributions to the new print edition may be sent to: editor@islandsocialtrends.com .
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