Newspaper adapts, but
stays true to community journalism
Welcome!
We are delighted you
are reading the inaugural issue of the new Chronicle, and we want to thank you
sincerely for your time and attention.
Since this is our very
first issue with a monthly format, it seems appropriate to offer perspective
and a brief background on why we decided to convert and simultaneously to
expand the Chronicle from a weekly into a monthly newspaper.
Let’s start with this
credo: Community journalism is extraordinarily important to the fabric of our
society.
A community newspaper
covers schools, local government, civic clubs and organizations, churches,
weddings, births and deaths: All the small, trivial items major media outlets
don’t consider significant enough for “the news.”
These things are
important, though, and reading and learning about them provides the common
ground where we live and relate to one another.
A community newspaper
plays an indispensable role in making certain our democracy operates fairly and
equitably. On the local level, in our coverage area, our newspaper is, as I
like to say, a “ watchdog with manners.” It’s our job to report on our
institutions objectively. By doing so, we hold our officials accountable to our
readers, who are the people they serve.
A good community
newspaper also offers readers a chance to encounter issues and topics of the
moment; our pages, with their stories from every sector of the community, are a
kind of town square, where people exchange information, see different points of
view and discover unknown aspects about their environs. This ongoing
conversation is an essential expression of free speech.
Belief in these
principals is the reason many community journalists — like me — regard our
profession not as a job but as a “calling,” and as good stewards of the
newspapers we serve, we must, despite our limitations, try to envision how we
can preserve and extend our tradition of service to our community and, indeed,
to our country.
Nowadays, in the Age of
Amazon, the traditional community newspaper model is fast becoming out-of-date.
In many places, this model with its dependence on weekly advertising from
grocery and hardware stores, car dealers and department stores has already
failed. It’s no secret, of course, the internet has destroyed the old-fashioned
idea of print classified ads.
And, now, we must add
the exorbitant cost of paper to this list of challenges. My guess is most
people don’t consider that producing a newspaper is really a “manufacturing
job.” We need paper, the raw material, to start with, and then every issue of
the paper must be printed, bundled, packaged on pallets, and delivered. It is
an enormous undertaking, and the cost of paper has soared during the last 24
months. While currently stable, the cost isn’t likely to go down.
In the old days, we
would have raised our advertising rates to compensate for the increase in
costs, but in today’s digital economy, where the number of advertising options
has mushroomed, a newspaper has little room to push up its rates.
So, by converting The
Chronicle to a monthly newspaper we are updating an “antiquated” business
model.
At first glance, the
new Chronicle may look and feel like a regular newspaper, but you will find it
is no longer your traditional weekly newspaper. It is something special.
We have expanded the
paper’s page count and its audience by mailing complimentary copies to every
address in Milford, Harrington and Felton. Not only will we reach more readers,
we can now provide our advertisers with 100 percent penetration into this vital
market at very affordable rates.
We intend to provide
readers of The Chronicle with news and features that can’t be found elsewhere —
hyperlocal content about the community, upcoming events and the changing
business and cultural landscape. The newspaper will emphasize the very best
contemporary graphic design, with great photography, illustrative maps and
infographics.
Our local news team
will be busier than ever, too, because as part of this change, we intend to
intensify our coverage of breaking news in our communities. These stories will
be published daily in the Delaware State News and in real-time online at delawarestatenews.net.
We will also use the State News and its website to accommodate community and
civic organizations that may need an immediate outlet. We encourage you to
continue sending news and press releases just as you do now.
If you find it helpful,
you can automate receiving your news by signing up for our Daily Headlines
newsletter, which will be delivered free each morning to your email inbox. It
only takes seconds to subscribe. Visit delawarestatenews. net and click the
“NEWSLETTERS” tab at the top of the page.
We know some of you
will be skeptical about these changes, but we trust you agree that change,
either good or bad, is the only thing that has brought and stimulated progress.
As Benjamin Franklin
famously said, “When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.”
The Chronicle, our
other newspapers, publications and websites have a long way to go before we
stop changing.
Darel La Prade is Delmarva
Group Publisher for Independent Newsmedia, Inc. He can be reached at dlaprade@newzap.com or
at 443-235-4704.
