To my former bosses at the

Chronicle Herald 

Why journalism in Nova Scotia is an endangered species.

• Rick Conrad was a reporter and editor at the Chronicle Herald for almost 23 years, before taking a buyout package in December 2014. When he left, he was the editor of thechronicleherald.ca. He was the president of the Herald’s union local for six years and was one of the people involved in unionizing the newsroom in 1998. He now lives on Nova Scotia’s South Shore.

Before I go any further, I’d like to take a moment and applaud husband and wife Mark Lever and Sarah Dennis.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

The owners of the Chronicle Herald have, over the past seven years, managed to cut the region’s largest newsroom almost in half, shedding years of journalistic experience and excellence, cutting well-paying Nova Scotia jobs and aborting untold numbers of stories.

In 2009, Sarah did it on her own, and, if the rumours inside the Herald at the time were to be believed, over the protests of her father and then-publisher Graham Dennis. Back then, the paper cut 25 positions to save money.

I was on the union local’s executive, and it was heart-wrenching to face the company’s first layoffs in its 130-plus-year history.

In December 2014, I was one of 17 journalists who left the Herald, either through early retirement, buyout or layoff, as another round of cuts was underway.

The Herald and its union are now in the midst of contract negotiations, and more cuts are on the way. Lever wants to follow through on his threat a year ago to hack all editing jobs from the bargaining unit, in addition to other layoffs, including the paper’s award-winning photographers. That could be 18 more people out the door.