Only French-language daily newspaper in N.B. scales back print editions

New Brunswick’s only independent French-language daily newspaper is scaling back its print editions, marking an end to it being the province’s only paper to print five editions a week.

L’Acadie Nouvelle will now publish two print editions each week starting this weekend, said CEO and publisher Francis Sonier.

The decision was announced to readers earlier this month.

The Caraquet-based paper is available Tuesday to Saturday and with the change, it will appear in print only on Wednesday and Saturday each week.

“The decision reflects changing printing conditions,” Sonier said, referring to Postmedia’s decision to cease its printing operations at the Times and Transcript in Moncton, which prints l’Acadie Nouvelle.

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He said given the decision to move printing operations to Halifax it wasn’t possible to offer a daily paper with fresh news. 

“We have tighter deadlines to respect,” Sonier said. “That’s why we decided to concentrate all our content in two editions per week.”

L’Acadie Nouvelle was founded in 1984 to serve New Brunswick’s French-speaking communities. Sonier said between 5,000 and 6,000 people are subscribed to receive the print edition of the paper. He said 15 per cent rely on print editions and don’t access the paper’s digital news offerings. 

Sonier said the two print editions offered each week will be larger papers focused on more local news. The daily edition will still be available on the paper’s website. 

He said so far the paper hasn’t lost many subscribers because of the change, but some people may be waiting until after the transition to make a decision about continuing their subscription. 

No job losses are associated with the scaling back of print editions, Sonier said. 

Marie-Linda Lord, a retired professor of journalism at the Université de Moncton, called the decision to scale back the newspaper’s print editions “inevitable.”

“It’s a very difficult time for media in general and l’Acadie Nouvelle is facing a new reality,” Lord said. “Because habits are changing.”

Lord said more people are turning to social media for information, which means audiences for traditional forms of media like print, TV and radio are shrinking.

With advertising revenue that would have previously funded newspapers now being invested in social media, publications all over are forced to make cutbacks, she said. 

As for the 15 per cent of l’Acadie Nouvelle subscribers who rely on the print edition, Lord said they are mostly seniors living in the Acadian Peninsula who are likely very attached to the paper. 

“That’s going to be a big change for that part of the readership.”

In 2023, New Brunswick’s daily English-language newspapers, all owned by Postmedia, scaled back print editions to three days a week. These include the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, the Moncton Times and Transcript and the Fredericton Daily Gleaner. At the time, l’Acadie Nouvelle remained the only daily newspaper with five print editions a week. 

English-language dailies in N.B. will print only 3 days a week

Postmedia did not respond to an interview request.

“The challenge is, will people be ready to read more on Wednesdays and Saturdays. I don’t know, we’ll see,” Lord said.