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Sun Media shuts down cultural weekly Montreal Mirror

Sun Media announced today that this will be the final issue of the Montreal cultural alt-weekly. It has ceased publication effective immediately. Updated Jun 22, 2:20 p.m. Japandroids may be a rock duo based out of Vancouver, but they will be the last to grace the cover of The Montreal Mirror. Sun Media announced today…

Sun Media announced today that this will be the final issue of the Montreal cultural alt-weekly. It has ceased publication effective immediately.

Updated Jun 22, 2:20 p.m.

Japandroids may be a rock duo based out of Vancouver, but they will be the last to grace the cover of The Montreal Mirror.

Sun Media announced today that this will be the final issue of the Montreal cultural alt-weekly. It has ceased publication effective immediately.

“The growing popularity of digital media and communications has irremediably changed the context in which free cultural weeklies operate, bringing about economic challenges which have unfortunately compromised The Mirror’s viability,” Serge Sasseville, Quebecor senior vice president of corporate and institutional affairs, said in a statement.

The Mirror’s website was taken offline at around 2 p.m. EST today, with the following message posted to its homepage:

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At the time of publication, Alastair Sutherland, editor-in-chief of The Mirror, had not yet responded to a request for comment. We will update this story when we hear from him. As OpenFile Montreal points out La Presse reporter Nathalie Collard said on Twitter that she interviewed Sutherland yesterday, and everything was fine.

With the loss of The Mirror comes the absence of a free Anglophone cultural weekly. Last month, Montreal's other alt-weekly, Hour Community, closed its print operation. 

The Mirror has been publishing since 1985, and turned to its weekly format beginning in 1989.  

In case it interests you, the final issue of The Mirror is still online on My Virtual Paper.