Medicine Hat News (MHN) City Editor, Ryan McCracken, has a degree in journalism from a university in Ontario. During the two years he worked as a (mainly) sports reporter for the St Paul journal in Saskatchewan, he covered several significant, traumatic events. One was a bus crash and another the murder of a priest.
Ryan moved to Alberta in 2014. He covered sports in the area for the Medicine Hat News for six seasons, before taking on the role of sports editor in 2020, then city editor in 2021, the position that he still holds today.
The COVID era had a hugely negative impact on the MHN. For example: No sporting events to report on; staff had to do as much work from home as they could, which was very challenging, and they had to relay times at the office to get the layout etc. of the paper done. Most devastating was that the number of journalists on the staff was reduced from 12 to 6 – a City Editor, a Publishing Editor and just four journalists. This had to be done due to the reduction in advertising during the COVID years. The Monday edition had in turn to be axed because of the reduced size of reporting staff and the rising cost of newsprint. Over the years, the total staff contingent has been reduced from about 100 to the current 30-40.
Ryan described the office as a positive environment, with the journalists working hard and often overtime (“For the love of the game”) to get each edition of the MHN shipshape for the 7,000 (mostly) print subscribers.
Ryan shared a few funny typos, and his typical working day. He explained how important it is that the paper balances out space and attention, particularly on the front page, e.g. to political parties, not appearing to favour any one in particular. He described the process followed each day, from content to layout to submission for printing, reception of the printed papers from Lethbridge, insertion of flyers in the mailroom at MHN, and then the distribution of papers in Medicine Hat by the carriers.
Ryan pointed out the important role played by the MHN, having a foothold in the community, which allows the journalists to cover and explain decisions made by e.g. City Council and the Police, as well as covering events of local interest.
Three of the things Ryan and his team are working towards are more ‘proprietary content’, the digital copy of the MHN being different to the hard copy, and more cohesion between the many newspapers in the Alberta Paper Group.
The tour of the MHN building revealed a development that few know about. The MHN is now printed in Lethbridge, alongside sister newspaper, the Lethbridge Herald, and several other local (mostly weekly) newspapers. The printing machines at MHN now stand idle.
Ryan and his team were sincerely thanked for the exceptional coverage given to the Rotary Music Festival each year.
Rotarians and guests were interested to see and hear that the Santa Claus Christmas Fund operates from the MHN offices, reducing rental costs.
In sum, this was a very interesting and informative visit, for which we once again thank Medicine Hat News City Editor, Ryan McCracken.
We wish Ryan and his staff the best for the vitally important role they play, inter alia, in helping to keep our leaders challenged and accountable, and our community informed and vibrant.