Weekly Journal to relaunch as East Ottawa Star

The newspaper is adopting the name Star to simplify the branding of the community's two leading local papers – the Orléans Star and the Weekly Journal. "Having two newspaper published under the common name will make it easier for readers and advertisers to understand," says publisher Terry Tyo. "Now, when people think of their community newspaper, they simply need to remember ‘The Star.’"

The Orléans Star will continue to be distributed midweek focusing on communities in Orléans. The East Ottawa Star will be delivered on weekends reaching a larger regional area including Orléans, Beacon Hill, Blackburn Hamlet, Navan and Cumberland. "We are essentially creating a bi-weekly newspaper," says Transcontinental Media regional manager Michael Curran. "The <2Ri>Weekly Journal<@$p> has a great history of serving this community. Shortly after it was founded in 1995, it was recognized as one of Canada's top community newspapers. Then in 1998, the newspaper was bought by Transcontinental Media, effectively merging it with The Star – one editor, one team of reporters, etc. The Star had its own fantastic history dating back almost 25 years. So we kept both newspaper names. Now it makes sense to unify them."

Curran says it's important to maintain two separate editions of The Star. "There are news-related reasons and business reasons for two editions. On the news side, there are differences between communities such as Orléans, Navan and Beacon Hill. Different politicians, different groups and different issues," he says. "On the business side, we have clients who want to focus their advertising on Orléans – hair salons, pizza outlets, etc. – and clients who want to reach the entire east end – realtors, car dealerships, shopping centres. We need to be conscious of this and give advertisers options that suit their budgets and marketing objectives."

To celebrate the relaunch, The Star will soon announce a contest that asks readers to identify "stars" in our community. This could be a hockey coach, community association volunteer, a neighbour who shovels driveways – anyone that contributes to people's well-being. Details of the contest will be announced in a few weeks.

Both newspapers will continue to publish daily updates at www.EastOttawa.ca.