![\"photo](\"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/mar-22-BC.22.Spencer-Hall-Headshot.jpg\")
<\/a>Hall grew up in Terrace, studied broadcast journalism at the BC Institute of Technology and then got a job at a radio station in Fort St. John. The job was one of those on-location gigs, where a station broadcasts live from community events.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it was during COVID, so I was going to people\u2019s garage sales,\u201d Hall said with a laugh. \u201cThe softest possible start to journalism, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n
He moved up the ranks there before being hired as a reporter in Valemount.<\/p>\n
The Goat<\/i> \u2013 the quirky name was one of the draws that attracted Hall \u2013 is an independent newspaper and the fate of print journalism in the internet age was a consideration before Hall bought the business. However, on a webinar with local journalism professionals, Hall found he is not the only one to have entered the publishing field recently.<\/p>\n
His paper, and many others, are getting support from the LJI \u2013 Local Journalism Initiative \u2013 a federal program that funds salaries for newspapers to hire reporters. The stories they produce are then shared across a network of participating outlets, sort of like Canadian Press or other newswires, Hall said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt allows people to bolster their coverage without having to take the financial burdens on,\u201d he said. If a story published in the Goat<\/i> is relevant to a paper elsewhere in the province or the country, they can run it.<\/p>\n
Among locals, the reaction to Hall\u2019s purchase of the paper has been one of relief.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was for sale for a couple of years,\u201d he said. People were afraid that it might get snapped up by a corporate conglomerate or, worse, shut down. \u201cMost people that I\u2019ve talked to, they say, thank goodness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some people have even said they moved to the community because it has its own independent paper, which is both an expression of support and a heavy burden to carry as head of a small team of editorial, sales and production staff.<\/p>\n
Another happy surprise is that stereotypes about young people abandoning print media (if not news itself) have proven incorrect, based on Hall\u2019s experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s also interesting to see how many young people come into the office and say I love reading the paper every week,\u201d he said. \u201cI say, really? You\u2019re 15.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hall thinks the accepted wisdom that \u201cprint is dead\u201d is itself an antiquated assumption.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThere is an appetite, especially in our market, for people who don\u2019t really want to participate in the 24-hour news cycle of social media and that\u2019s why they find value in the paper,\u201d said Hall.<\/p>\n For all his optimism, Hall is not expecting to get rich.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew I wasn\u2019t going to make money,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m hoping I can make a living. But I view what I do as a public service. It\u2019s something that\u2019s very much needed, especially in today\u2019s climate, and that\u2019s kind of the main reason I did it. I hope that I break even but, if I don\u2019t, it is what it is, I tried.\u201d<\/p>\n As an individual fitting into a new community, Hall has been warmly welcomed. A tiny group of Jews get together to celebrate holidays and his transgender identity was right out there when he did a routine addressing it during a fundraising event.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were trying to get a mountain bike pump track installed and I did some stand-up comedy and mine was about being trans and [the response] was overwhelmingly positive,\u201d he said. \u201cEveryone\u2019s been super, super supportive.\u201d<\/p>\n Valemount has a rainbow crosswalk, he noted with a laugh, and a Pride society \u2013 not what some big city-dwellers might expect from a remote town.<\/p>\n \u201cI think how we view small towns, especially ones the size of Valemount, isn\u2019t necessarily how they are,\u201d he said. \u201cI think there is the expectation that, because it\u2019s a small town, there\u2019s going to be a lot of ignorance, but people are pretty well informed and with the times here.\u201d<\/p>\n The region is a draw for outdoorsy folks.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is surrounded by mountains and on the way to Mount Robson, so we do get quite a few tourists,\u201d Hall said. \u201cIt\u2019s actually a resort municipality. There\u2019s a lot of mountain biking and getting into the backcountry \u2026 snowmobiling or mountain-biking. Also, we are very blessed to be right in the mountains, so anytime anybody wants to see the mountains, Valemount is the place.\u201d<\/p>\n