Caribbean democracy hit as Stabroek News and Newsday papers fold after social media shift

SAN JOSÉ, Costa Rica — Growing up in Trinidad and Tobago, Carlon Augustus remembers reading the newspapers his grandparents bought him every day. Now 32, he says he turns to social media for the latest news.

For them, it’s about getting news in real time.

“Everything is on social media now. Whatever happens today, you don’t have to wait to get the papers tomorrow,” he said.

Media owners point to changing reading habits like Augustus as the primary reason for the closure of two legacy newspapers in the Caribbean so far this year: Guyana’s Stabroek News and Trinidad and Tobago’s Newsday.

Stabroek News printed its final edition on Sunday and ceased its online publication. It was founded in November 1986, a year after its founders asked the then President of Guyana if he would agree to the creation of an independent newspaper. At the time, Guyana was six years away from its first free and fair elections in nearly 30 years.

Meanwhile, Trinidad and Tobago’s Newsday stopped publishing its print and online editions in January.

“It’s certainly a loss to the country, to our democracy, especially in this age of social media, where credible professional media organizations are needed more than ever,” said Judy Raymond, former editor-in-chief of Newsday.

Covering corruption, political upheaval, deadly natural disasters and a whimsical story worthy of a short story, Caribbean newspapers are struggling to attract and retain readers – like print media worldwide – proving little competition for influencers and social media.

The closing of the two newspapers is particularly independently owned, so they offer diverse voices and are less susceptible to influence by advertisers or power players, said Kiran Maharaj, president and co-founder of the Caribbean Media Institute.

“You now have the narrowing of it,” he said.

Stabroek News is known for solid, independent journalism and sets high standards that are emulated across the region. It drew literary giants including Guyanese poets Martin Carter and Ian McDonald to write its op-eds and covered the October 1992 general election that ushered in democracy.

After years of authoritarian rule, the newspaper also flourished as a platform for free speech.

“Its letters page provided perhaps the most open and democratic public forum in Guyana,” wrote lawyer Christopher Ramm in a recent essay published by the newspaper.

“Over time that column became an informal national meeting place where academics, trade unions, political figures, public servants, businessmen and ordinary citizens alike, debated matters of public importance.”

Stabroek News is considered Guyana’s top newspaper. The country also has three other newspapers: one state-owned and another closely associated with the ruling party. A third recently began asking its web visitors how much they would be willing to pay to read online content.

Early Ward, a 76-year-old retired beverage company manager from Guyana, said he was depressed about the demise of Stabroek News.

“I’ve been reading newspapers since the 50s and love to hold one in my hand and flip through and read at any time,” he said.

Ward now relies on TV and social media for news.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Newsday made its debut in 1993, promising to reach the most remote communities of the twin-island nation, where two long-established rivals still operate: the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian and the Trinidad Express.

The paper attracted blue-collar workers and soon became a household name as journalists referred other news outlets for stories and lawmakers cited its articles in Parliament.

Raymond, who served as editor-in-chief from 2017 to 2022, said Newsday is known for its coverage of Tobago, the smaller of the two islands, less developed, and for amplifying the voices of those struggling.

The most fulfilling role in the paper is helping people because “they’re desperate and authority hasn’t helped them and they have no one else to turn to,” she said.

From the 1970s to the mid-1990s, Caribbean newspapers enjoyed solid financial support and became a status symbol, said Wesley Gibbings, vice president of the Jamaica-based Caribbean Media Institute.

“People could be seen walking around with physical copies of newspapers,” he recalled. “It was almost a prestigious thing to be one with a newspaper.”

Then big tech platforms, including Google, began to attract advertising content and revenue while mining mainstream media content, Gibbings said.

“The danger signs have been there for a long time,” he noted. “We’re in a watershed period right now, and the declines will continue.”

Print advertising has fallen 75% in the past decade due to the windup of Daily News Ltd, which publishes Newsday, a “perfect storm of challenges”, said company managing director Grant Taylor.

Raymond, who helped set up Newsday’s digital desk in early 2018, said perhaps Newsday “could have worked harder to expand the revenue stream from online publications.”

In retrospect, he wondered if turning Newsday into a digital-only news outlet would have been a viable option. However, with regional online news source Loop News shutting down last July, becoming a digital-only publication does not guarantee Newsday’s survival, he said.

In the case of the Stabroek News, its owners said the government paid “only” $7.5 million for advertising services owed about $90 million in the past year.

But the newspaper noted that overdue bills and a decline in government advertising were not the main reasons for its decline: “Readership patterns have changed dramatically and fewer readers are willing to buy print editions – or even pay for electronic editions.”

In a recent letter to Stabroek News, Lurlene Nestor lamented its closure, “especially at this period in Guyana’s history, rife with allegations of massive public corruption, as well as the nation’s most important resources, gold and oil, being corruptly exploited or used for personal political bargaining.”

Those concerns were echoed by Stabroek News editor-in-chief Anand Persaud, who said he was proud of the paper’s work.

“We leave at this point because we want to make sure our freedom is not on the line.

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Gibbs reports from Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Wilkinson from Georgetown, Guyana.