Apparently you like to read about food.
The most read stories on the Tri-City News in six of the past 12 months involved food — restaurants, cafés or grocery stores opening or closing.
The top stories in most of the other months involved some sort of tragedy or near-tragedy.
The internet has changed the relationship media have with the consumers of the news and information we provide.
Where once editors made decisions on what stories to play big on the front page or at the top of a newscast based on instinct and years of experience in the trenches and took it on faith their choices would resonate, we now have instant feedback on how readers are responding to the stories we post on our website.
Headlines and lede paragraphs can be crafted and tweaked in real time with words and phrases that trigger an emotional response, compel readers to click their mouse.
And when we see those clicks coming in, we can respond in kind, giving you more of the kinds of stories the numbers say you want to read.
Like food.
Whether this is a good thing is not for us to decide.
But with the economic survival of media outlets increasingly tied to the traffic they’re able to attract to their websites, it’s not hard to see how the equation plays out, especially as newsrooms are being tasked to do more with fewer resources.
Reading about a new fried chicken franchise opening in your neighbourhood might momentarily pique your curiosity to check it out the next time you’re craving fried chicken. But it’s the machinations of the rezoning application down the street that’s slowly working its way through hours-long city council meetings and public hearings that will have a more profound and lasting impact on your quality of life, from the value of your property to the amenities that bring richness to your community to the traffic you have to navigate to get around.
Here then is a monthly look at the Tri-City News' most read stories of the past year:
January
Have your cake — and eat it too was about a new pastry shop opening in the Eagle Ridge Plaza on Lansdowne Dr. in Coquitlam. The owners of Pourquoi Pas Patisserie took their inspiration from the bakeries they frequented while living in Montreal and a previous effort running an online custom cake business in Toronto.
February
The closure of a popular dinner theatre that’s been a part of downtown Port Coquitlam for more than 20 years got a lot of attention. And while the Giggle Dam Dinner Theatre had weathered previous crises like the 2008 recession, a fire in 2015 and even the COVID-19 pandemic, a “business dispute” seemed the last straw for owner Mark Friebe.
March
There’s nothing like news of rats infesting a restaurant to get mice clicking. And that’s exactly what happened when a routine check of the monthly inspection reports by Fraser Health revealed violations and closures because of rodents at several local dining establishments.
April
Next to food, real estate appears to be another popular obsession. Whether it’s curiosity about how your own home might stack up in the current market or incredulity at the market’s disconnection from the average person’s bank account, a story about a 644 sq. ft. home in Coquitlam selling for $1.42 million is bound to attract attention.
May
Groceries are pretty much a daily necessity. So when a new grocery store is opening people what to know where, when and the foods they can expect to find there, along with the prices they might expect to pay because it could have a profound effect on their shopping routines.
@tricitynews T&T 2.0. 🥬🧧 #tricitynews #coquitlam #tandt #tandtsupermarket #ttsupermarket #storeopening #lougheedhwy ♬ original sound - TriCityNews
June
It’s been a rough few years for fans of 80s hair bands eking out a last tour or buff Australian percussionists as the theatre at Coquitlam’s Hard Rock Casino had been pretty much quiet since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. But the announcement of a new partnership with Live Nation Canada promises new life for the venue.
July
There’s truth to the old newsroom adage that “if it bleeds, it leads.” A pair of stories about a fatal shooting outside a Burquitlam condo building were the best read in a month that’s usually quiet for news as people enjoy the summer weather or escape from their daily routines be going on vacation.
@tricitynews Did you see this car? 🚗 #tricitynews #coquitlam #portmoody #vehicle #vehiclesearch #rcmp #pmpd #ihit ♬ original sound - TriCityNews
August
Combine the name of a celebrity chef with the opening of a new restaurant and watch the clicks roll in.
September
News of a police officer being shot shakes a community to its core — what does it mean if the people who are supposed to be keeping us safe can’t be safe themselves?
The fatal shooting of Ridge Meadows RCMP Const. Frederick “Rick” O’Brien as he and two other members served a warrant at a residence in Coquitlam’s City Centre neighbourhood fractured an otherwise sunny, pleasant early-fall Friday morning. “It’s worse than L.A.,” said one business owner in the area.
Of course, the shock of such incidents dissipates quickly and people get on with their lives; our coverage of O’Brien’s regimental funeral attracted three per cent of the readers of the story about his shooting.
October
Businesses come and go. But when a beloved local enterprise admits it’s struggling to the point of closing one of its ventures, people take notice.
November
The call to local police departments the morning after Halloween night has been a part of newsroom routines for years. With the growing public enmity toward impromptu firework displays that disturb the peace and upset family pets into the late hours, a near tragedy because of pyrotechnics becomes newsworthy.
December
News organizations have been chasing crazy, “what-the-heck?” video forever. So when footage of a shoring wall collapsing into a Coquitlam construction site showed up in a random social media post one afternoon, we all jumped on the story. The video, captured by a witness, is shocking and sensational, but the full story of why the wall collapsed and what that could mean for future construction sites is still to be written.
📣 SOUND OFF: What stories did you enjoy reading? What kind of stories would you like to see covered more? Send us a Letter to the Editor to share your thoughts. Be sure to include your full name and city of residence.
