Independent N.B. news station feeling the effects of Meta ban

You wouldn’t expect to find a newsroom in this small tourist town by the sea.

With a Facebook following of 28,000 people, 2,000 more than there are residents living in Charlotte County, it's clear CHCO-TV in St. Andrews, N.B., is an integral part of the community.

“In larger communities you have a shopping list of media, here we don’t,” says Gerald McEachern, who is the executive director of Sunbury Shores Arts & Nature Centre on the town’s main street. “There’s a weekly newspaper, there’s a few radio stations, and CHCO that’s it.”

“It was something you’d check everyday,” St. Andrews resident Katy MacDonald says referring to the news outlets Facebook page. “It was the way to know what was going on around Charlotte County and it’s definitely going to be missed.”

Like other news stations in Canada, CHCO-TV has been subject to the Meta ban of Canadian news content on its platforms. While the ban has impacted all news outlets in the country, small private stations like CHCO-TV are feeling greater strain.

“Our Facebook page has become a community hub for people,” says CHCO-TV news director and lead anchor Vicki Hogarth. “A lot of people tell us that they go on our Facebook page first thing in the morning with their coffee to check out the content we’ve put on there, but also to interact with other locals to hear what their opinions are.”

Hogarth has begun posting CHCO-TV content on her personal Facebook page to help keep residents informed. Broadcasts can be found on Bell, be accessed through the news stations website, and YouTube page. An app is also in development to give users the best possible access to breaking news, but the loss of not being able to post on the company’s Facebook page is troubling.

“What we love about Facebook is it gives people the opportunity to interact with the content and share the content on their page as well to spread the word,” Hogarth says. “When you don’t have a big company behind you like we do it’s been a huge part of our own advertising is people having the ability to share what we’ve produced with their following. That’s a big part of how we have become popular.”

“People in the community don’t take for granted the fact they have their own local television station in rural New Brunswick which is considered a news desert by standards even across Canada.”

Some resident rely on CHCO-TV for keeping them up to date with the latest breaking news when disasters strike.

“We were part of the evacuation in Bocabec during the fire,” says area resident Kelly Niash. “(CHCO-TV) was pivotal for us to keep track of what was happening.”

Others worry what the impact will be on the community as a whole.

“It’s devastating for local news and tourism as well,” says Lynn Mayo, who owns The Wee Fabric Shop in the heart of St. Andrews. “Vicki has done a great job of promoting the town and is always aware of what is going on here and has really brought us to light.”

For Hogarth, one of her biggest worries is the impact a lack of news accessibility will have on democracy in Canada. She worries disinformation will become more prevalent with verified content not on Meta platforms to balance the information.

“I don’t think we have yet seen the ramifications on what’s happening but it’s not going to be that far off,” because small newsrooms get by month to month. This is week three or four of Meta’s news block, and we haven’t even factored in Googles link block to Canadian content and what that will mean for how people access information Canada. I’m very fearful of what this means for small news, but what it means for democracy.”

Hogarth adds she, like other Canadian news outlets, isn’t sure what will happen when Google takes away the ability to look up Canadian news in its search engines, but it’s a day she is not looking forward too.

For more New Brunswick news visit our dedicated provincial page.