My community newspaper is the Pensee de Bagot. It is published in St-Hyacinthe, Que. and is delivered to my door every Sunday afternoon.
To me, this French-language community newspaper is a condensed weekly paper full of good news. I am not the addicted type, due to the small amount of free time I have, but I do manage to read through the local news.
An example of what I look for and find in this paper is when and where the registration for the 1992-93 hockey season is taking place, the fee, etc.
Anniversary column
I always turn the pages directly to the local news and will only read the rest if the headline captures my attention. I also rapidly scroll through the anniversary column and if I know someone, I will call and give them my best wishes.
As far as the classified ad section goes, I do go through it if I am looking for anything in particular.
I do find that the quality of the community newspaper has improved. It has managed to get representation in every region it covers. With this representation, we get news from all of the surrounding towns.
‘Good news’
From my point of view, the community newspaper contains the most ‘good news’. It is where our local businesses advertise (sales and/or new products). I am sure the fee for advertising is less than half that of the daily newspaper.
We do receive a daily newspaper and I guess I can say that it belongs to my husband. By this, I mean he is the first to get his hands on it in the morning.
Daily
I do not have much of an interest in our daily newspaper, but I do take the time to ask him what made the front page and he does not often respond positively. It kind of makes me wonder whether priority is given to drastic affairs.
This is not quite how I like to start my day. Apart from the sports section, I do not think so much glamor should be given to the first page of a newspaper.
I would like to add that I really enjoy reading my community newspaper.
Manon Morel, 30, is mother to two young boys and works as a marketing information secretary with Bombardier in Valcourt, Que.
