This newspaper has received its fair share of questions, criticisms and abuse of late. Some readers don’t like our tightening news pages and new emphasis on digital news delivery. We’ve tried to explain the changing business of newspapers, but not everyone is getting the message.
This is important, so we’ll try again.
If everything was left entirely to us, we would publish as much news as we could possibly write, print and deliver. We’d include as many pages as possible and we’d print enough copies for everybody in town to have one. We’d do it all for free if we could because we think local news is that important. And, we think everyone should pay attention to the local news, not just some of you.
But doing all that would not be a very good business plan. That would be like a local grocery store giving all its food away so everyone could eat whatever they want.
As it turns out, grocery clerks and farmers have to eat. And so do journalists. Money makes the world go around and it also buys paper and ink. To tell the truth, newspaper people would prefer hard news over hard cash almost every time. That’s how journalists are similar to church preachers, cops, nurses, the best of teachers, poets and true martyrs. We all need money for food but our secret is we’d work for free if we could.
Newspapers, including this one, need a radical new business plan and new ways to make money and get paid. Food, health care and housing are expensive here. Our news reporters need better pay. Maybe we need a Kickstarter campaign, as a few well-meaning readers have suggested. Another reader thinks we should become a benevolent nonprofit organization – except that’s pretty much what we already are.
We absolutely cherish all our advertisers, but they are small businesses like us with limited budgets. This newspaper still has the biggest audience in town and the most local shoppers, but advertising and marketing is in disarray right now thanks to the internet, social media and food thieves like Amazon.
Most of the recent reader complaints are about having to look for the local news on the internet. One reader in Cloverdale last week accused us of being lazy for using the internet instead of newsprint to deliver the news. We didn’t invent the internet and we wish all the news was still printed on newsprint. But that ain’t happening anymore.
Let’s try to get a few things straight, just between reader and publisher. If you keep reading and helping us pay our bills, we will continue to write, report and publish as much news as we possibly can. That means old-fashioned newspapers on recycled newsprint with smudgy ink and it means lots of extra news on our websites.
We will stay as free as possible. We will print local press releases and letters, listen to story ideas, answer all kinds of questions, try to settle public disagreements, encourage good debates and keep local government open and honest. No extra charge.
We will only practice quality journalism based on public trust and verified facts. We know a lot of our readers want local, important and hard news. (We call that ‘broccoli news’) Others want lighter, less serious local news and fun features. We like that news, too. (We call that ‘Cheetos news’)
So, we don’t mind our readers’ criticisms and feedback. We keep listening and learning every week. One thing we’ve learned is that, ultimately, the only news worth publishing is the news for which someone is willing to pay.
