Yukon News moves to Fridays

Yukon News moves to Fridays-only publishing, cuts Wednesday print edition

The newspaper's decision follows shifts in local media across Canada

The Yukon News’s printing press will soon hum a little softer.

The Black Press Media-owned community newspaper is cutting its Wednesday print edition and moving to a Friday-only print schedule, the publication recently announced on its front page. Established in 1960, the paper once published three physical copies a week.

The change aims to create a “more comprehensive weekend package” by bringing local reporting, features and community coverage together in a single edition, the announcement reads.

Yukon News shifts to Friday-only print schedule

The Yukon News is shifting to Friday-only printing, we hear from the publisher, Kevin Ceniza

While the Yukon News’s publisher says moving to Friday-only printing is an upgrade, changes or downsizes to local outlets is a trend across Canada.

‘It’s what the market wanted’

“We looked at the numbers and it’s what the market wanted,” said Kevin Ceniza, the Yukon News’s general manager and publisher, adding that the change could be seen as a cost-saving measure. “We’re giving what the advertisers want: they want to be on the Friday paper.”

More updates are underway, including a re-designed layout, a different paper size and upgraded print quality, according to the announcement. Throughout these changes, daily coverage will continue uninterrupted across the newspaper’s digital newsletters and website.

The Yukon News will look to re-allocate its budget to hire more reporters and sales representatives, Ceniza continued.

“Nothing will change in a negative way,” he said.

Justin Tremblay, the Yukon News’s senior pressman, did not respond to multiple requests for comment about the change.

Mike Thomas served as a photographer and publisher at the Yukon News for around 25 years, before leaving the newspaper in December 2018. He recalls his tenure as “an amazing experience.”

“Being able to tell people’s stories, see their lives through their eyes, and experience their lives was always a privilege,” he said.

Newspapers have been struggling to attract advertisers to stay afloat for more than a decade, he said. In his view, eliminating the Wednesday edition is a strategic move and reflects an economic reality.

“If you have to make drastic changes to keep yourself relevant and more committed to the community, then these are changes you have to do,” Thomas continued. “You have to be positive about it. You just can't be bemoaning how this was way in the past.”

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The Yukon News’s decision follows shifts to local media across Canada. In 2024, the longstanding Whitehorse Star shuttered after years of financial struggles. Recently, Black Press’s Yellowknifer also announced a scaleback to one weekly paper edition.

Between 2008 and 2023 in Canada, 511 local news outlets closed in 342 communities, while 212 new outlets launched in 150 communities, according to the Canadian Association of Journalists. Most of the shut down outlets were community newspapers.

The decline in printed editions is in part because more people get their news online, said the vice-chair of the association's board, Paul Schneidereit, on CBC Radio's Yukon Morning.

"In the North, I know there are communities where internet access is an issue," he said. "For all the readers who are used to reading in print, it's definitely going to be a loss."

‘I’d rather have one paper than no paper’

Some Yukon News readers in Whitehorse say they understand the newspaper’s decision.

“I don’t like it,” said Candice Demers about the change. She thinks she may miss out on local coverage without the Wednesday edition.

“I’d rather have one paper than no paper,” she continued. “I’m not computer literate, so I miss out on a lot.”

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Mark Jones has been reading the Yukon News for roughly 11 years.

“It wouldn’t change a lot for the reason I would buy the paper,” he said. “It’s only, like, three or four pages of newspaper anyways. It’s not a lot of change, I would imagine.”

Still, Ceniza says one edition per week was the move to be made.

“I think the readers will welcome this,” Ceniza said. “The Yukon is ready for a change.”

Alexa MacKie is a multimedia journalist and a recipient of the 2026 CBC summer scholarship, working at CBC Yukon in Whitehorse. She previously worked at The Current. She has also written for The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, the Ottawa Citizen and others. She has an honours bachelor's degree in journalism and law from Carleton University.