A National Community

Today's leading story on the CBC's National is the perfect example of a news story and how things go in the community newspaper world.

Working in community newspapers in and around a highly populated area can be interesting. Working for the Vancouver Sun or Province they simply look for anything of newsworthiness, cover it, and are done. For us we look for anything newsworthy as long as it has a Chilliwack (or Yarrow or Harrison Hot Springs or Agassiz) angle and if it doesn't, we don't cover it.

I always joke—and it is completely unoriginal, but I can't remember where I got it from—that if the prime minister of the day were assassinated down the road in Abbotsford we wouldn't cover the story. Unless of course, the assassin came from Chilliwack.

But the reality is with a big story that we would search for a local angle of some sort.

This morning I heard on the CBC that Highway 1 was closed both ways at the Sumas exit in Abbotsford because of an accident where three were killed. I thought of cruising over there with my camera, but it is not in the 'Wack, so I figured, "why bother."

Then after various updates I heard the noon CBC news, which said that the van carrying 17 immigrant workers was on its way to Rainbow Greenhouses in Chilliwack. Suddenly, it's a Chilliwack story and we are all over it, likely with a photo from our companion paper in Abby, an interview with the greenhouse owner, and an above the fold page 1 story.

So as a community newspaper reporter I literally went from complete disinterest in a story that made the headlines on the CBC news, and that happened about 20 kilometres from my house, to a major interest because of a thread of connection to our community.

Anecdotally interesting at best to me, but frankly quite sad given the situation of those who died and were seriously injured. Hopefully this brings some attention to those underappreciated and possibly abused workers who pick strawberries and tend to flowers so suburbanites can enjoy cheap products.