This Saskatchewan Newspaper’s Front Page Says There’s No News Worth Reporting

    "To be truthful, there isn't really anything happening..."

    A newspaper in Saskatchewan was brutally honest with its readers about what's going on in the community. "To be truthful, there isn't really anything happening in the news this week," the Battlefords News-Optimist said on its front cover.

    "Not that it isn't worth picking up the paper, there are some interesting items inside," the article continued. "But, it's January, the weather has taken a nasty turn and there just isn't much happening."

    The paper noted that the fire department had been busy “attending a dumpster fire and a couple false alarms” but deemed it “not really very exciting."

    The piece did, however, speculate about the mindset of someone who sets a dumpster fire.

    "One could surmise they did it for the warmth, but when a dumpster is set ablaze it probably isn’t a great idea to hang around to roast marshmallows."

    News-Optimist editor Becky Doig said she wrote the piece after having just put together a 24-page newspaper during an exceptionally slow week.

    "Really, it's the middle of January. Everybody in the news business knows there's nothing going on," Doig told BuzzFeed Canada.

    So the News Optimist today opens with "to be truthful, there isn't really anything happening in the news this week."

    North Battleford resident Rylee Schuhmacher, who shared a photo of the blasé cover story on Twitter, was at her regular Tuesday lunch spot when she spotted the article. She said it was an unusual step for a newspaper that's not known for its sense of humour.

    Schuhmacher did however agree with the editors on the fire department's battle against dumpster arsonists.

    "The dumpster fires weren't particularly exciting," she said.

    UPDATE

    This post was updated with comment from News-Optimist editor Becky Doig.