The Gazette is pleased to announce the arrival of Josh Thomas to the News Editor’s desk at 100 Main Street.

Originally from Hamilton, Ontario, Mr. Thomas took a degree in Journalism at Niagara College, and cut his teeth for eight years at Alberta’s Spruce Grove Examiner and Stony Plain Reporter as reporter, photographer and editor.

He brings a passion for sports coverage as well as municipal and community affairs.

“I believe community journalism is unique in comparison to provincial or national journalism. The stories we write deal with people on the ground level and provide a service to readers,” he says.

In the current media landscape, the opportunity to make this kind of connection is increasingly rare. “The issues that directly affect our lives get lost in the weeds in a nationally or provincially oriented news organization. A municipal council makes decisions that affect you on the ground level.”

Both the Examiner and Reporter, like the now defunct County Weekly News, are Postmedia publications. Mr. Thomas emphasizes how little “press release journalism” actually conveys. “I don’t think you’re ever going to get as good a story as you’ll get if you go in person, face-to-face with someone, meet them, speak to them, understand their perspective and point of view, and then get different perspectives on it. There’s three sides to every story, right? If you’re copying a press release, that’s one carefully curated side of the story.

“Even if it’s something as benign as a U14 soccer game you’re getting way more information from those kids when you show up and 7 of them decide that they’re going to do a reverse press conference with you! You get information that you never would have gleaned, and you’re able to deliver a better story.”

And it takes a village. “As much as journalism is an individual career, the best newspapers, in my opinion, have cohesive teams. Maybe I’m old school, but there’s something to be said for coming in, saying good morning and bouncing ideas off each other. The newsroom is a community itself with more than one person who’s engaged in what should go out to the community, what matters to the community. I’m looking forward to being a part of the Gazette team.”

Mr. Thomas is not alone; his family came with him. His wife, Amy, a professional baker, found work immediately at Picton Main Street’s newest addition, the Elmbrook Bakery. With four kids newly enrolled at PECI, the Thomases are primed for speedy integration. 

After an epic journey eastward, more eventful than a Chevy Chase Vacation movie, the Thomas family is settling in, and, as you can see in these pages, the Gazette’s new News Editor is already hard at work.

“We’re just so pleased someone with Josh’s experience would come this far to be a part of our newspaper,” said publisher Karen Valihora. “We’re looking forward to a new energy and new directions. We’ll have lots of local coverage, and, Josh having the skills of a younger generation, a stronger digital presence.

“The Picton Gazette has seen many changes over the last two centuries, we always have to be looking ahead.”