It seems everyone these days is peddling something and trying to make a buck, especially on the digital city corner, the internet. Smooth-talking salesfolks are hawking gadgets that make life 100 times more efficient, potions that boost health by 50 years, and then there are those who’ve got the secret to life for the low price of a $2,000 seminar.
Here at The Herald we’re just offering good ol’ fashioned journalism. Stories about what’s happening in the halls of buildings paid for and maintained by your tax dollars, various happenings in Havre and outside of it likely to affect us one way or another, and the occasional human interest piece. We’ve written several relevant stories readers can only find here and we’ve been at the forefront of breaking news more times than not. No fancy potions and formulas here. Your aching back is not going to get any better, your blood pressure is not dropping, and it’s unlikely any insecurities you may have about your appearance will be curbed by reading The Herald.
To continue reporting news that matters, we’re launching our Sign Up for 7 campaign. A recurring seven dollars a month from loyal readers will go a long way to adding an extra thread to our already shoe-string budget. Journalism is not free. Not even close. It takes time and money, even digital-only journalism.
We’ve just hired an advertising representative. Everyone say hi to Vickie Rhodes, who is here to help us with what we intend to be the largest portion of our revenue. For advertising inquires, email Vickie at [email protected] or call the office at 262-7778.
Here at The Herald we provide news content for free — and that’s the way we intend to keep it — because we exhaust every other avenue for ways to make money. The Sign Up for 7 campaign is an example of just that.
It’s simple. We’re asking our loyal readers and those who recognize the value in what we do and would like us to continue delivering local news to sign up for a recurring contribution of $7 — the price of one and a half foofoo coffees; the price of two draft beers; the price of a fast food meal.
The truth is we have a pile of stories we can’t get to and tips to look into because we don’t have the time. With an editorial staff of two, it’s impossible to look into every allegation of skullduggery in private and governmental entities we hear about it. And it should go without saying, we don’t cover most community events because we can’t. That’s where the money part plays a role, as we’ve been tinkering with the idea of hiring another reporter.
Newsroom jobs declined 23 percent over the past decade, according to the Pew Research Center. With the arrival of the internet, print advertising revenue, far larger than digital advertising, dropped off exponentially and newsrooms have been making cuts ever since.
Although the general climate for news production is pretty cloudy there are some sunny spots. More and more digital news sites have been popping up and filling the void left by thousands of departing journalists. The Havre Herald is here to provide the community we love with accessible, comprehensive and important news.
So please consider signing up for a $7 recurring payment. You can go here to do that. If you’d like to sign up for more, we won’t stop you. If you’d like to do an even $5, all power to you.
This coming weekend we’ll have a table at Festival Days in downtown in front of our office building, The 305 Building. Please stop by to say hi and chat. We might even have some free stuff to give out. When you stop by, don’t forget to ask about our plans for a very exciting upcoming feature we’ll begin offering soon.
Thank you in advance for your generosity, and we are especially thankful for those of you who’ve already signed up for recurring contributions.
Paul Dragu is editor of The Havre Herald. He’s also the office janitor, payroll manager and first line of defense against technical difficulties. An Atlanta native, Paul has made Montana his home. While he enjoys the space his new home offers and the skyscrapers and traffic it does not, he likes to revel in boyhood nostalgia with a bucket of fried chicken and a Georgia Bulldogs game.
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