The North York Mirror has come a long way in the last 50 years. The community paper first hit the presses on April 25, 1957, as The Don Mills Mirror and has gone through several notable changes since, including a name change, distribution and, most recently, an expansion to the Internet.
Betty Carr, publisher of Toronto Community News, which prints nine community papers for Metroland Media Group Ltd., including The North York Mirror, said amalgamation of the City of Toronto and the launch of the paper's website, www.insidetoronto.com, are two of the most significant events that has shaped community coverage over the past decade.
"People lost (their identity as) cities or boroughs (with amalgamation)," said Carr, who has been at the helm of Toronto Community News for 17 years. "We grew our product to cover neighbourhoods as there was a greater need for community newspapers. There wasn't a newspaper on the web 17 years ago and we changed our website so you can see at a glance news from across the city."
The North York Mirror might have dropped to a twice-a-week press run down from three times a week in March 2006 but the local coverage remains the same, Carr said.
"There are so many different neighbourhoods and you become more aware of it when you cover the different demographics," said Carr, who is also chair of the Toronto Board of Trade. "We will always have community newspapers. We will always address local coverage. Community is going to be more important in the future and in whatever form, there will always be a North York Mirror. We have to protect our local niche. We don't want to be The (Toronto) Star or the Globe (and Mail), our mission is to be as local as we can and work locally and report locally."
And there hasn't been a shortage of local news to report on, from the expansion of the TTC to include the Sheppard subway from Sheppard Avenue to Don Mills Road; the growing number of residents in downtown North York's Yonge Street and Sheppard Avenue area thanks to an influx of condominium development; the outreach programs and community unity in troubled west-end neighbourhoods; reporting on North York sports teams; and tackling municipal, provincial and federal issues on a local level.
"When I first started there was a much smaller circulation, around 50,000," Carr said. "We've doubled that now."