The Battlefords Regional News-Optimist building is for sale. Harvard Media has acquired Glacier Media's SaskToday.ca. (Julia Lovett-Squires/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By battlefordsNOW Staff

Harvard Media

Harvard media expands with acquisition of Sask Today

Mar 15, 2024 | 2:41 PM

The news-scape in the Battlefords and Saskatchewan will look a little different in the future.

In the March 14 edition of the Battlefords Regional News-Optimist, an advertisement for the sale of the current brick-and-mortar building was listed. The sale includes the office building and the warehouse. battlefordsNOW reached out to the publishers of the Optimist and the Canora Courier for comment, but both declined.

The news comes after Thursday’s announcement that Harvard Media acquired Glacier Media’s SaskToday.ca, the web company that supports the News-Optimist’s online presence. However it’s unclear if the sale of the building is related to the move by Harvard.

MooseJawToday.ca was also part of the acquisition. In a news release, George Leith, Harvard’s managing partner, wrote that the acquisition was strategic and “marks significant expansion of Harvard Media’s business and underscores its commitment to delivering high-quality, local journalism across Saskatchewan.”

Harvard and Glacier have also entered a partnership and under the new model, Harvard will enter 13 new markets: The Battlefords, Unity, Wilkie, Estevan, Humboldt, Canora, Carlyle, Preeceville, Assinoboia, Kamsack, Weyburn and Outlook.

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The release added that by working as partners – with Harvard at the helm – they will collaborate and will put a renewed emphasis on hyper-local coverage and use aspects from both companies to grow the platform in content delivery, advertising ideas and other areas of the industry.

“This acquisition and partnership reflect our belief in the power of local news and the importance of access to reliable information,” Leith said in the statement.

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cjnbnews@pattisonmedia.com