I’m not an economist, but it seems to me the old ways of funding local news are dead.
Very dead.
Want proof? Since the Valley Indy launched in June 2009:
- Two print weeklies in the lower Valley have stopped publishing.
- The Connecticut Post closed its Valley bureau and laid off reporters. The paper cut back on the number of reporters assigned to the Valley.
- The New Haven Register’s parent company has gone in and out of bankruptcy. The paper has cut back on the number of reporters assigned to the Valley.
- AOL lost millions of dollars on “Patch,” its nationwide network of “hyperlocal” news sites. An estimated 100 journalists were laid off in Connecticut alone earlier this year.
(Now you can see why my son is so upset)
None of this happened because we launched.
It happened because the old way of funding community news has disappeared.
And it is why I’m asking you to donate to the Valley Indy during “The Great Give” on May 6 and May 7. Click here to donate to the Valley Indy.
Use the form below or the links within this story to donate.
In 2014, for local news to survive, community support — that is, your donations — is desperately needed.
The work we do is free to consume — but it is not free to produce.
Like our for-profit news colleagues, we’ve cut back, too.
We had two reporters and a $30,000 freelance budget when we launched.
We employed three reporters in 2012.
Now we can afford just two reporters, and I’ve budgeted just $4,500 for freelance this year. That’s one freelance story a week.
I still think we provide the best news coverage in the Valley — we have 29 journalism awards since 2009 as proof — but it is getting tougher.
Perhaps you’ve noticed our lack of Oxford stories. Or the fact we can’t attend meetings in Shelton as much as we did previously.
We don’t cover weekend events because, well, even cynical reporters need time with their families.
And those journalism awards I just bragged about? I didn’t enter any of our stories this year because we could not afford the entry fees.
But last year you donated about $2,700 to us during the Great Give, which was, in a word, phenomenal.
This year our goal is to almost double that amount, and raise $5,000.
The money will be used to hire local freelance writers to cover some of the stories we keep missing because of a lack of time and resources.
That’s it.
The Great Give starts at 8 a.m. Tuesday, May 6.
Any and all donations are appreciated.
As always, thank you for reading the Valley Indy.
