Column: 2024-The Sun Year Ahead

Last year, in the wake of newspaper print plant closings, we chose to invest in the future to help local publishing companies like The Sun continue to offer printed news products to their readers. The press project has not yet been finalized due to unforeseen delays, but we anticipate completion very soon. The business landscape of local newspapers has been collapsing over the last 15 years. The COVID years accelerated the process. The primary source of newspaper income has been advertising revenues, which nationally have declined since a peak in 2000 estimated to be just shy of $50 billion. By 2018 the number had declined to $14 billion and the most recent numbers available for 2022 are now $9.8 billion. The reason for the decline was not that newspaper advertising did not work, as print is still the most trusted form of advertising, but it became more expensive to produce and deliver than trendy digital opportunities. Those who controlled the newspaper industry struggled to achieve a realistic business model, and back peddled by cutting staff, circulation, and equipment investment in the hopes of limiting their shortfall. Reality set in the summer of 2019 when the Vindicator in Youngstown, Ohio, whose owners acknowledged only two profitable years out of the previous 22 and closed their doors in August of that year. Amid these events, the importance of the local press, the topics it covers, how it is shared, the speed at which it is conveyed, the accuracy of information, and at what level of quality has never been more apparent in our local communities. Supporters continue to cite aspects of "community" as a primary reason they support locally produced news products. One study by the American Press Institute found 31% of new subscribers named "supporting local news" as their primary reason for becoming customers — not the weather, not sports coverage, but the civic-minded act of supporting journalism in their backyard. Since the 1940's this small, family-owned newspaper company has operated under the slogan "MORE THAN A NEWSPAPER—A COMMUNITY SERVICE". Community has always been the central theme and keeps this organization in a position to serve. As we enter our 76th year in service to the region we will need the community's support more than ever. These past few years have been difficult for most businesses. With reduced advertising revenues we find ourselves considering alternative approaches to maintain our free distribution system through the U. S. Postal Service. During this past year we have been focusing on trimming remote distribution and removing addresses to determine if the households value the product. If an address did not receive their Sun, we assume they will call. We are exploring two options for The Sun this year; The first option is to convert from mailing the newspaper as bulk Marketing Mail, to Periodical Mail. This will require every address receiving the paper to, at a minimum, voluntarily subscribe with either a request for the paper or a request plus a voluntary payment to help support the cost of mailing. Lessening the postal cost will allow us to strengthen news coverage. Currently, we have approximately 700 readers who voluntarily contribute to help defray our $500,000 annual postage charges. Option two will be to explore the idea of converting the newspaper from a for-profit company to a non-profit organization. Both options require us to spend no more than we take in. This approach has saved many newspapers in metro areas, but it will take time to determine if it is the right fit in rural communities such as ours. Over our 76 years in business, we have been forced on several occasions to reinvent our business model. These are unique times, but with your continued support, we are just stubborn enough to persevere for another 76 years. -Dan Alexander is a resident of Elizabethtown, NY. He serves as Publisher Emeritus and President of Denton Publications, Inc.

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Column: 2024-The Sun Year Ahead

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