Tag Archives: NDG Free Press

| Media

N.D.G. Free Press newspaper shuts down

The Free Press newspaper, which launched as the N.D.G. Free Press in 2009 and later expanded to include neighbouring west-end communities, has published its final issue, its editor told Mike Cohen and the Montreal Gazette.

Its sister paper, the Westmount Independent, will continue to publish, David Price says.

As a free paper, distributed mainly through the mail, the twice-monthly Free Press required advertising revenue to survive, but despite a recent plea to readers, the paper couldn’t find enough advertisers to become profitable.

The Free Press wasn’t the kind of news machine that you’d find at the Montreal Gazette or CBC or La Presse, but it was independent, and it tried to fill the hole left after Transcontinental shut down what was left of the old N.D.G. Monitor. There’s still The Suburban, which has a west-end edition, and of course the daily Gazette, but residents of that part of town will be less connected to what happens in their community.

City councillor Marvin Rotrand tweeted something offering hope something could be done to save the paper, but that seems too little, too late at this point.

| Media, Montreal

NDG Free Press editor resigns after child porn arrest

David Goldberg is no longer the editor of the NDG Free Press. His resignation wouldn’t be such a big story, except for why it happened.

Goldberg was charged on May 30 with accessing and possessing child pornography, and released on $5,000 bail, according to The Gazette. Among his conditions, beyond staying away from places kids go, is that he can’t use the Internet, which I guess means he won’t be reading this post.

At the Free Press, things changed quickly. The biweekly paper reports in its June 12 issue (PDF) that Goldberg resigned on June 1. Publisher David Price takes over until June 18, when Marlene Eisner, a former Suburban EIC and Concordia professor, takes over.

To the credit of the paper and Price, the news wasn’t hidden or sugarcoated. In addition to announcing Goldberg’s resignation and Eisner’s appointment, the paper carries a short story with Price’s byline about Goldberg’s arrest.