As others have said, having a good local paper is important for informing the population on local matters, and for keeping local government and business honest.
However, the WFP is overcharging for an online subscription if you ask me. I understand that they have a huge print infrastructure to pay for, byt that's not my problem. I don't want a physical copy, so why should I pay to subsidize it? They should declare bankruptcy and restart as an online only paper, if that's what it takes.
As for the WFP itself, as others have said, their design isn't very good. Too many celebrity stories, and not enough videos and high-res images. Their comments section could be a huge asset, but as it currently exists, it's a joke. They should make the comments more like the NYT, the G&M and Reddit. Allow upvotes and downvotes, and allow users to archive and search their own comments.
The WFP allowed their classified to die by clinging on their old pay model, and as a consequence Kijiji has eaten their lunch. They could rebuild a classified section but that'll be an uphill battle.
As for their marketing, it's quite sad that they don't even lower the paywall for articles they link to through Facebook.FB is a marketing tool that gives them a chance to attract paying customers, but they don't understand this, apparently. Marketing 101 FAIL.
In a few years when they fall apart, maybe a bunch of Free Press journalists and IT people will wise up and start an online-only Winnipeg Tribune. Let's see... 50 employees making an average of $80,000 each. Add $30 for benefits, etc., that's $110K apiece. That works out to $5.5 million. Add another $500k for servers, rent, etc., and you have a cool $6 million per year in operating expenses. If they could get 50,000 subscribers, that would be $120 per year, or $10/month.
Note that I didn't even factor in ad revenue.