End of an Era: Newsday Newspaper shuts down after 32 years serving Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago: After 32 years of delivering news to the doorsteps of citizens across Trinidad and Tobago, Newsday newspaper has decided to hang up its pen and paper, announcing the commencement of legal proceedings to wind up the business following significant challenges within the industry and its financial affairs.

Newsday reportedly filed a petition to wind up the Daily News Ltd, publishers of Newsday company on December 31, 2025, with its first hearing set for January 19, 2026.

The newspaper company confirmed the news of the initiating of the legal proceedings in a Facebook post, posted on Friday, January 9, stating that the company has initiated the wind up of its parent company Daily News Limited.

“A perfect storm of challenges has led to where we are now: closure.” Grant Taylor, Managing Director of Newsday stated that the closure of the newspaper has had a long time coming due to the mounting financial challenges, a sharp shift in public attitudes toward traditional media, declining trust, political attacks on the press, and changing consumption habits.

Factors that contributed to the closure of the newspaper company due to the challenges faced throughout the years, making operations unsustainable.

“There is nowhere for Newsday to hide the year-on-year losses.” Taylor explained that although newspaper companies have been suffering through the years, the Newsday newspaper has had significant losses.

As the company is an individual entity that does not depend on larger media conglomerates as the other newspaper companies in Trinidad and Tobago. Leaving it particularly exposed following years of losses and low sales of the newspaper.

“This is not a ‘this just suddenly happened’ scenario.” Taylor acknowledged that the shutdown has had a long time coming due to a decade long convergence of damaging forces. As the newspaper company had been experiencing hardship since the outbreak of Covid-19 that forced the newspaper to close down.

Putting a sharp decline in advertising revenue, a source of income that all newspapers depend upon in order to function. He went on to point out once that once COVID -19 passed and they were back on the market. The company struggled to attain the raw materials such as paper that had gone up.

Taylor further pointed out that due to the rise of raw materials, maintenance, printing machinery, and cost of production due to the factor that the newspaper had hundreds of staff working everyday all year long.

“That $3 was less than the price of a doubles, but it was still too high a price to pay.”  The newspaper decided to increase the price from $2 to $3, an increase that did not aid in the Newsday operations as it was met with backlash from the readership with the readership of the newspaper dropping by 40%.

To add to the downfall, the advertising revenue, a backbone of the print media, also fell by 75%.

The Managing Director lastly noted while expressing gratitude to readers, staff, and advertisers that as Newsday becomes just another statistic in the casualties on the print media landscape, the team remains proud of the legacy of unwavering independence in keeping the public informed.

Newsday was founded in 1933 by a group of journalists led by Therese Mills, the newspaper quickly entered the Trinidad and Tobago market and began competing with the top newspapers. Including the Express and Guardian in eventually becoming the country’s top newspaper during its peak years.

The closure of Newsday Newspaper adds to the statistics of the declining print press that has been facing challenges since the rise of social media.