The Northern Miner cuts frequency by 50%—drops to 26 issues a year

With a goal of publishing a minimum 24-page "fatter" newspaper every second week, the TNM is promising to produce and publish the same amount of stori

With a goal of publishing a minimum 24-page "fatter" newspaper every second week, the TNM is promising to produce and publish the same amount of stories for readers. — Photo: The Northern Miner

The venerable Northern Miner (TNM) newspaper is making a huge break in tradition and downsizing its frequency from weekly (52 issues a year) to printing an issue every second week (26 issues) throughout the year.

The Northern Miner is calling the move a "momentous break from our shared past" and a move to produce a larger “double issue” every two weeks. With a goal of publishing a minimum 24-page "fatter" newspaper every second week, the TNM is promising to produce and publish the same amount of stories for readers.

The mining newspaper’s editor-in-chief John Cumming writes, “The print edition remains almost as popular as ever with readers, even with some categories of advertising moving substantially online in recent years.” (Career and jobs ads for example)

He adds, “As a side note, there’s plenty of evidence that comprehension and retention of stories read in print is materially better than achieved by reading off an electronic screen – a particularly critical consideration when making business or investment decisions.”

Cumming also writes, “The good news for our print readers is that with the larger biweekly edition, there will be no actual reduction in the total amount of stories our editorial team puts out…we will strive to produce a 24-page newspaper every two weeks with almost the same amount of content that would go into two 16-page weekly papers of old.”

He concludes, “We want you to know we remain committed to the print edition.”

The Northern Miner has continuously published for 101 years – and is a division of Glacier Media Inc, based in Vancouver. The Northern Miner is published out of the company’s Toronto offices.

Glacier Media also owns June Warren publications (JW Energy Group) in Alberta which feature a line-up of oil and gas industry publications including the monthly Oil Week magazine and the Alberta Construction magazine. The company also publishes the Canadian Mining Journal independently of The Northern Miner along with an annual Mining Handbook directory.