Mike Williscraft

Owner & Publisher

Grimsby NewsNow

 

Mike Williscraft began his journalistic career with a dream of starting his own harness racing publication. After a stint with the Globe & Mail in 1985, he was hired on as managing editor of the industry-leading The Standardbred Magazine. After a change in the publication’s ownership, Mike took a job as a sports reporter with the Goderich Signal-Star and started to branch out into more hard news coverage. His efforts helped make the Signal-Star one of the country’s best community newspapers.

 

Deciding to move to Ottawa, Mike became managing editor of the Manotick Messenger and Barrhaven Independent, before coming back to Southern Ontario three years later to edit a trio of papers in Niagara. An ownership change with the company led to Mike being laid off. However, two months later he launched the Grimsby News from his basement. The paper soon expanded to Lincoln and West Lincoln, and, in 2003, added a weekend edition called Niagara West This Week.

 

Mike sold the papers to Metroland in 2004 and became the company’s director of editorial for Niagara. He grew Metroland’s circulation to 185,000 across several editions and helped to launch a free daily newspaper in the region. Laid off again in 2012, Mike launched his current paper, NewsNow Niagara, three months later.

 

Mike has also been a strong community leader both within the industry and the places he’s lived and worked. He served as president of both OCNA and CCNA during times of great change and helped shape both associations and the industry itself. His community work began in Goderich, where he helped create a golf tournament to aid Special Olympics. Notably, he also served on several chambers of commerce, helped draft two key Niagara economic development strategies and played a vital role in saving the West Lincoln Memorial Hospital.

 

For his efforts, Mike received OCNA’s Mary Knowles Award in 2008. “There isn’t a day when there isn’t a politician, business owner, lobbyist, or just a sweet senior with a bee in their bonnet, perched on the rickety chair pulled alongside Mike’s desk,” wrote NewsNow contributor Joanne McDonald. “They want his counsel and insight and action and ink. Sometimes they just want to shoot the breeze. The door is open and it’s not a stretch to say that Mike’s opinions hold significant sway on many decisions that affect the community.”

This is why the Ontario Community Newspapers Association is thrilled to announce Mike Williscraft as an inductee of the OCNA Hall of Fame.

The OCNA Hall of Fame Award recognizes and celebrates individuals who have made exemplary contributions to Ontario’s community newspapers. Inductees are respected community news professionals who have remained passionate about the industry throughout challenges, opportunities, and changes. They are leaders who have helped community newspapers adapt and grow.