By Dan Cotter, publisher
Labor Day is coming up, signaling a time of year that’s taken on new meaning for the Vermont Standard and the Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation. This point in the calendar when we honor our nation’s workers is also when we begin our four-week Annual Appeal to raise funds to keep quality local journalism flowing for Woodstock and the surrounding towns that the Standard serves in Windsor County.
By now, most everyone knows that newspapers have been struggling mightily – despite the fact that communities throughout the nation still count on them to employ the journalists who are primarily responsible for covering local news. The main problem has been the evaporation of much of the advertising revenue that traditionally supported local journalism.
Those who advertised in newspapers through the years were typically smaller, local businesses, which in many cases have fallen prey to competition from chains, big box stores, and online sellers (like Amazon). Many of them have now been bought up by bigger regional or national operations or they closed down.
Classified section advertisers also pulled back on the ads they ran in newspapers for jobs, cars, real estate, and used merchandise when online options, which are often free, became available.
So, this left local newsrooms all across the country without much of a funding mechanism. Many sold out to national newspaper chains owned by corporations or hedge funds that proceeded to gut the paper’s staff and resources in a cynical attempt to squeeze out what little profit might be left. Other papers just closed their doors as their financial losses piled up.
So far, the country has lost about a third of its newspapers — almost 3,000 have gone out of business in the past twenty years, and we’re currently on pace to continue losing more than two per week. More than 200 counties now have no credible, comprehensive local news source. They call those places “news deserts.”
To make matters worse, while many other communities still have a local newspaper, it has been reduced to just a shadow of its former self because corporate scavengers “right-sized” it, leaving the paper incapable of performing its duty for its community.
However, there are still some independent publishers in small communities like ours who know that we cannot have a well-functioning democracy if the public isn’t adequately informed. They know that a local newspaper is entrusted with reporting about the issues that matter. They also know that communities function better — and the quality of life is better — if people know what’s going on and if they know and appreciate each other. So, those publishers are finding ways to keep the lights on at their newspaper any way they can, while at the same time attempting to create new revenue streams that could help sustain their local journalism in the future.
The Standard is one of those newspapers.
Last year, the Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation was formed as a public charity to raise funds to help ensure that our community won’t become the next news desert. The Foundation is dedicated primarily to preserving the Standard and its role in informing citizens and supporting democracy in our area well into the future. We’re not trying to merely keep some semblance of a diminished newspaper alive here. We’re trying to preserve a good, trustworthy, 171-year-old purveyor of local news and information (both in print and digital formats) that our community can continue to rely upon and be proud of. We believe that having fair-minded, professionally produced local journalism is extremely important to maintaining the quality of life here.
And we are not alone in this effort. There are still businesses here that help pay for your local journalism with their advertising in the Standard and its ancillary publications. Any business or organization that advertises is doing more than just promoting a service, sale or event – it is also showing you that it cares about this community, that it wants a thriving, strong democracy here.
The Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation has a board made up of a small cadre of local residents who fully recognize and appreciate the value the Standard provides. Of course, Phil Camp and I are on the board too. We are extremely fortunate to have these board partners in the trenches with us as we chart the path forward.
Increasingly, though, we’re finding that those who care most deeply about our community are the same ones taking action to also care for its journalism. Some newspapers in the U.S. have been fortunate to have a rich owner – such as Jeff Bezos at the Washington Post or John Henry at the Boston Globe. Those owners are doing a fine job of sustaining quality journalism in their metropolitan areas. But here, we’ve got our own benefactors who are largely responsible for why the Standard is still alive. I’ve found that these wonderful, caring people fall into three categories.
First, we have a sizable group of very kind donors who truly appreciate the important role local journalism plays in our community and they step up to take part in our annual appeals each year. Their donations vary in size from a modest amount to hundreds of dollars. We couldn’t be more grateful to these supporters. Our hearts leap a little each time we open their envelopes or receive notice of their credit card contribution. Their donations add up to a significant amount that has literally sustained our journalism. We simply could not keep going without you. We regard each donation we receive not only as sustenance but also a pat on the back that encourages us to “keep trying, keep going.” And we will.
We also have a smaller number of major donors who dig deep and send us large donations that make a very big difference for us. Their donations go a long way in helping us make ends meet – some of their individual contributions alone can pay a substantial bill or help supplement our cash flow during the slowest advertising times of the year. These very generous donors have an outsized influence on our ability to provide the community with quality journalism. Rest assured, we know each of you by name and we count our blessings each day to have you on our side.
And speaking of blessings, we also have a select few who have literally taken on this mission, shoulder-to-shoulder, with Phil and me and the Foundation board. These donors are guardian angels for our community who have done some very heavy lifting, providing substantial funds to help us not only survive for today but also to strengthen our organization so that we can build the new revenue streams we need to sustain us in the future. I can assure you that there would not be a Standard today for you to read without their extremely generous assistance. Some of these friends also help us spread our message and encourage others to support us. We really have no words to adequately express our gratitude to them – we’re simply astonished at the love they’ve shown to us and to this community.
We sincerely hope you’ll join us in this year’s 2024 annual appeal. And for those who have a family foundation, we hope you’ll consider adding the Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation to the worthwhile causes you regularly support.
The Foundation is a public charity so your gift will be fully tax-deductible.
Your donation will be utilized in the form of project grants to support the Vermont Standard’s mission to inform, connect, and educate our community on issues of public importance.
Our need is quite urgent, to say the least. We are profoundly grateful for anything you can do to help us with this mission.
If you’re willing to make a tax-deductible donation to our 2024 Annual Appeal, please send a check to PO Box 88, Woodstock, VT 05091, or go to our Vermont Standard THIS WEEK website at www.thevermontstandard.com to make a contribution with your credit card. Be sure to make your check out to the “Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation.”
