Major growth for Journal

Journal Photo by Bruce Penton

The Journal’s warehouse at Third and College will be even busier than normal, with labelling and inserting of newspaper sections and flyers for all Prairie Newspaper Group publications taking place here.

The Journal is not only growing, but it's getting a new name and an expanded neighbourhood.
Beginning Nov. 25, the paper's name will change to the Westman Journal, but current recipients of the publication in the immediate Brandon area will continue to receive it in the same fashion to which they have grown accustomed.
The Westman Journal's circulation will immediately rise from the current 19,000 to approximately 35,000 with a further increase in circulation and coverage area expected in the near future.
The Journal will be added as a supplemental section to the hometown newspapers owned and operated by the Prairie Newspaper Group (PNG) — from the Melita New Era in the southwest to The Neepawa Press in the northeast. Other publications the Westman Journal will be a part of include the Reston Recorder, the Souris Plaindealer, the Deloraine Times and Star and the Virden Empire Advance.
Journal publisher Todd Hamilton said the partnership with the hometown newspapers is the right combination.
"These are the papers of record in their communities," he said. "Readers and advertisers know these papers are taken home and read cover-to-cover... unlike a lot of stuff we find in our mailbox, these papers are valued and don't just end up in the recycling box.
"Some of these papers have been serving their communities for 100 or more years and are very respected publications. Adding the Journal to them is giving our readers and advertisers both in Brandon and Westman more bang for their buck."
Aside from carrying content to which Journal readers are accustomed, the expanded Westman Journal will also feature stories from rural Manitoba written from the home communities of its partner papers.
"Readers will find articles they can't find anywhere else," Hamilton said. “We'll be giving them the story inside the story. We'll be giving them the ‘why' to the story — not just some brief or sound bite. With the immediacy of the Internet, people can get their daily news from around the world whenever they want it, but we'll be providing them in-depth feature stories in the Westman Journal that they can't get on the Internet.
"We're going to provide our readers something a quick Google can't."
The timing is perfect for this expansion of the Journal, said Hamilton. “This is a project we've been working toward for a number of years. Western Manitoba is already beginning to emerge from the global recession, so as far as we are concerned this couldn't be happening at a better time."
While the Brandon market is important, Hamilton said it is the rural area that makes this corner of the province tick.
"Brandon's relatively big, but it's dwarfed by the numbers in the rural areas," he said. "We just think it's time Brandon readers and advertisers had a quality vehicle to be informed about and reach those rural areas. And vice versa: Adding the Journal to our hometown newspapers will give rural readers and advertisers the same opportunity in Brandon."
As the newspaper expands, so are the staffing levels.
“While it seems like everybody else is cutting back, we're increasing our staff of full- and part-time people by about eight,” he said.
The biggest staff expansion is in the Brandon distribution warehouse, where labeling and inserting of all PNG papers will take place. PNG has also increased its editorial, production and sales staff at a number of its rural western Manitoba newspapers.

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