Yesterday, several reporters were laid off from The Vancouver Courier. The week before, Vancouver’s alt-weekly, The Georgia Straight, also laid off reporters. Now both papers, which provide crucial local news and city hall coverage, are bare bones operations. Not only that, The Vancouver Courier has suspended the free print edition of its paper.

In this episode of the Vancouver COVID-19 Update, Alex de Boer speaks with veteran municipal reporter and UBC School of Journalism professor, Frances Bula. They discuss this loss of local reporting matters, who will be most affected and what help may be on the way.