For two local news agencies, The Citizen and Golden West Broadcasting, May 28 marks a historic occasion—the beginning of a unique partnership with the end goal of delivering the best possible news reporting, broadcasting, and advertising options to the residents and businesses of Niverville, Ritchot, and the surrounding communities. For readers of The Citizen, not much will change. The print edition of the newspaper will continue to appear in mailboxes and on racks month after month. Online news, on the other hand, has a fresh new look and a new name: NivervilleOnline. As SteinbachOnline is to Steinbach and area, so NivervilleOnline will be to Niverville and Ritchot. The SteinbachOnline news team has been covering Niverville and the surrounding area for years to the tune of about 1,500 stories annually. The new site will continue to be thoughtfully curated with local news written from a local perspective. “From a reader perspective, I’m happy to report that, in a lot of ways, things are staying the same,” says Evan Braun, The Citizen’s managing editor. “But they’re also getting a whole lot better!” For one thing, there will be more stories published online, and they’ll be timelier than ever. Not changing, though, is the quality of all that reporting. “A key detail is that the stories on NivervilleOnline are still going to be covered, to a great degree, by the same person who has always led the charge for us: Brenda Sawatzky.” Partners for a growing community So why the partnership? Simply put, there’s strength in collaboration. By design, The Citizen is small and has a small working budget, making it difficult at times to maintain the staff it needs. “Going forward, NivervilleOnline is going to have a lot more news voices to throw into the mix, and all those great articles are going to be published both on Golden West’s web platform as well as in our print editions,” Braun says. “So this is going to be the best of both worlds.” Dylan Zacharias, sales and marketing manager for The Citizen, says the benefits are clear in terms of advertising, too. He will continue to serve the region in the same capacity as before, only stronger. “Golden West specializes in online systems and digital services, while The Citizen has built its reputation through strong print and tactile marketing,” Zacharias says. “Together, this partnership creates an exciting opportunity to combine them. But having a consistent face working with businesses, especially local businesses you shop at and support, is incredibly important. We want our partners to know that we are invested not only in their advertising but in their long-term success.” This new arrangement also frees The Citizen to continue exploring print opportunities, which has always been its greatest strength. The team is in the midst of preparing the next edition of Homes & Communities, a periodic real estate and lifestyle magazine that the group has been releasing on a seasonal basis for many years. Another exciting project: an upcoming publication celebrating the Nighthawks’ Centennial Cup run. For the president of Golden West, Brett Adnum, launching NivervilleOnline is an appealing new venture. “We’re excited to be here,” Adnum says. “Niverville is different than Steinbach. It’s got its own sense of community and we’re excited to learn what that is and to expand on it.” Two histories, one commitment Established in 1957, Golden West’s roots run deep. The company broke into the radio market with CFAM, based out of Altona. Their primary purpose was to provide timely agriculture reports to listeners in the rural southeast. Before long, the company branched into Steinbach with CHSM radio. By 1974, they turned westward, opening outlets in Saskatchewan and Alberta. SteinbachOnline officially launched in 2000 and has since become a prime source of daily information for Steinbach and the rest of the southeast. Between radio and their website, they keep locals informed of everything they need to know, right down to road condition reports, sports scores, and charity event coverage. “We’re community service radio,” says Adnum. “We’re focused entirely on the community, providing local information that is unique and matches the DNA of that community and not so much about what major markets are talking about.” Despite almost 70 years of growth and expansion, the Golden West philosophy remains the same as it’s always been: to prioritize under-served rural communities through a hyperlocal focus. That’s where Golden West and The Citizen meet. From its earliest days in 2015, The Citizen has also had a hyperlocal focus, telling the important stories of people who would otherwise find themselves in the midst of a news desert. Local developer Ray Dowse is one of The Citizen’s founding members. “I tend to look at life through a community lens,” Dowse says. “What drives and motivates me is giving back and finding ways to make a positive impact in my hometown.” In 2015, when local news was scarce, Dowse was driven to start a community paper that would tell his hometown’s stories. He was joined by a team of people with the talents needed to pull it all together. “None of this is possible if you don’t have the right people involved,” says Dowse. “We are very fortunate to have a team of people all with a similar mindset and community approach, but with diverse skillsets that could support the day-to-day operations.” Braun was also one of the original four. “I am incredibly proud of what we’ve created over the last 11 years with The Citizen,” Braun says. “I have to admit that I was sceptical back when this all started, because print news was already well into its decline in 2015. But right from those earliest days, The Citizen worked. Local readers and advertisers bought in almost immediately.” Seeds of collaboration Surprisingly, the hunger for local news has never waned in Niverville and Ritchot. Taking into account the near-exponential growth in this burgeoning corner of the province, the news has been constant and steady—and both The Citizen and Golden West expect that trajectory to continue well into the future. But the challenges along the way have been equally real. For example, a few years ago when Meta instituted a news ban for their social media apps, including Facebook and Instagram, it became impossible to share news links with people in the very place where they gather online to look for that very news. For small agencies like The Citizen, this was a big problem. Adnum and Dowse met in 2024, planting the first seeds of collaboration. This spring, the conversation continued between the two teams, with everyone seeking ways to bring the best possible value to the region as a whole. Dowse says that the timing felt right. “I’m really excited about this opportunity together with Golden West and their team,” Dowse concludes. “Both organizations were really aligned in their approach and our vision for what we can do in the community together. I’m really excited to take these next steps together with them.” For Adnum and the Golden West team, those feelings are mutual. “Brenda, Evan, and the whole Citizen team has sort of endorsed us and helped us get started in the community,” Adnum says. “To continue to tell the news, I think, is, first of all, fantastic for the community and fantastic for Golden West. I think it’s only going to help us get better here.” In this day and age, Adnum adds, people want options on where and how they get their news. Whether it’s print, digital, social media, or radio, this collaboration will provide everything people need in a fast and timely manner, without them ever having to take their finger off the pulse of the communities in which they live.