– Editorial – - Rate increase needed to keep local coverage strong
By Editorial Board
Each week, the Courier Sentinel editorial board uses this space to address state, regional and local issues.
These are issues that impact the lives and well-being of our communities, and of the people who live here. We take our role as a watchdog seriously. We have not shied away from bringing to light, “without fear or favor,” actions and individuals, which work against the public interest.
A good watch dog is one that can tell difference between a squirrel running through the yard or leaves rustling in the wind, and the intruder who would sneak at night, and do harm to you and your loved ones.
Most issues are far from being black and white, or yes or no. Those who would narrow the world into the “us vs. them” mentality, do a disservice to themselves and their communities.
In covering the news of our communities, there is good and bad happening each week. Tragedies and triumphs share in the column inches. From the athletes competing at the highest levels of their sport, to the tragic tales of those whose lives took rougher roads with accident, illness or poor choices – all are part of, and impact the lives of, people in our community.
The Courier Sentinel is a family-owned newspaper. The owners and their families live in the communities we serve, and are active here, frequenting local stores and taking part in community events. Likewise, the newspaper’s staff live and are active members of the community. They help sell brats and burgers at civic club fundraisers, they volunteer with youth sports and are there to help their neighbors in need.
As the song goes, “the times, they are a changing.” Since it was founded, the Courier Sentinel has taken seriously, its role as a source of unity in the community, you, our readers, share a common bond that forms the bulwark of community. Strong communities are essential in protecting against those who would seek to profit from divisiveness, either by lining their own pockets or seeking power for its own sake.
While the Courier Sentinel has done, and will continue, to serve its readers and the community, it is also a business. Like any business, there are bills to pay for supplies, equipment, buildings and taxes. We struggle with the same challenges of finding quality workers and being able to retain them in a tight labor market. We face the same sorts of supply chain breakdowns as other businesses and tighten our belts, as costs climb.
Community newspapers, such as the Courier Sentinel, have historically relied on advertising for the revenue needed to cover costs. For decades, the model has been to keep subscription rates as low as possible, with advertising making up the difference.
Community newspapers remain an effective and important place for advertising products, services, events and activities. Numerous studies show consumers have a greater degree of trust in newspaper advertising vs. online, or in other media. Other studies show newspaper advertising brings value and the ads are sought out, vs. other media, where the ads are considered distracting or a nuisance.
While this is great, the economic reality, is that in an increasingly fractured media marketplace, there are many places for businesses to invest their advertising and marketing dollars. Add to this that with the increasing consolidation of businesses and decision makers moving from the local level, to regional or even national offices, the importance and value of advertising in community newspapers can get lost.
Across the country, community newspapers have been forced, through economic pressure, to close their doors, creating news deserts where there is no one to keep an eye on the county board or city council; where there is no one to tell the story of the student athletes striving to be the best; and where there is no one to record the celebrations, tragedies and individual triumphs that forge community bonds.
In light of industry-wide changes, this has required a shift in the business model of newspapers, away from heavy reliance on advertisers toward readers and subscribers picking up a larger share of the costs.
While community newspaper journalists view their profession as a calling, rather than simply the source of a paycheck, our staff and their families are dealing with inflation, healthcare costs and other expenses, like any others. It is the lament of any small business that the costs always seem to go up much faster that the revenues. Like any business, we must balance those costs.
You will see the cover price of the Courier Sentinel go up July 1. Subscription rates will also go up, in large part, because of continued hikes in postage rates, as the postal service puts its priorities serving online retailers, rather than local service.
Prices go up. It is a reality of the world we live in. Most times, businesses never offer explanation or apologies for the increases. Things just cost more.
We offer this explanation, not as an appeal to charity or for any sense of guilt, but through the level of openness and dialogue we would expect from any institution we cover. We hold ourselves to that higher standard of transparency.
We believe the Courier Sentinel brings value to our communities and to the lives of our readers. We believe in the importance of a free and independent press, and of the obligation to bring unbiased coverage of events and people in our communities. We believe in the importance of reporting on the happenings of our towns, villages, cities, counties and school boards, to ensure there continues to be an informed electorate.
We believe in the continued relevance of community newspapers.
We believe you, our readers, do, too. All good editorials include a call to action. The call to action for this one, is to subscribe to your local community newspaper or buy a subscription for a friend.
Above all else, we ask that you continue being a reader and a part of our community.
Members of the Courier Sentinel editorial board include publisher Carol O’Leary, general manager Kris O’Leary and Star News editor Brian Wilson.
