We at Leader World Headquarters recently got two bits of unexpected good news. The Google News Initiative awarded us $7,000 in emergency funding to help support our production and delivery of original, local news. We also got $250 in emergency funding from Ameren Missouri in the form of utility bill relief.
Other small businesses (50 or fewer employees) and nonprofits interested in applying for the utility bill relief may do so online at AmerenMissouri.com/SmallBusinessRelief. Ameren Missouri announced a $500,000 energy assistance program.
The Leader was among 12,000 newspapers in 100 countries to apply for the Google News Initiative’s Journalism Emergency Relief Fund. The $7,000 will be used to buy computers and update technology to help our journalists report the news you have come to expect.
Like almost everywhere, it’s been a mad scramble here at Leader World Headquarters for the past few months. Neither journalism school nor decades of experience in community newspapering prepared us to bring you a newspaper during a pandemic.
I hope you haven’t noticed.
Our goal is to bring you local news and advertising. That hasn’t changed. How we collect that news and advertising is very different than just three months ago, and we have the Zoom meeting scars to prove it.
Almost overnight in March, Leader Publications went from zero journalists working from home to almost all journalists working from home. Honestly, we weren’t prepared. Computers, email and the internet are tools we use every day to gather information and produce the newspaper. But none of our journalists had company-issued laptops, and we all have limited remote computing infrastructure from home.
Reporters whose bylines you read every week quickly figured it out.
A handful of Leader staffers headed to the office to make sure the paper could get to your mailbox each week.
Others gathered ancient home computers, cell phones, tablets and other bits of technology that happened to be lying around to keep reporting for our community. No longer are a pen and notebook the only tools needed by a good reporter. Governmental meetings and press conferences are being held online. Interviews can’t be done in person. We’ve all had a crash course in using technology.
The Leader sales staff also has been reaching out to advertisers using nothing but their cell phones and home computers. Our sales pros continue to help local businesses tell their stories and reach their customers. They also are acting as small business counselors when needed. It’s tough out there for local businesses, but we are in this together.
In hopes of keeping each other safe, members of the Leader staff are taking turns working, sometimes 24/7. At the same time, they have become home-school teachers for toddlers, health care providers for aging parents and advocates for our community to stay home and stay safe.
Despite the challenges, the Leader is making herculean efforts to forge ahead and provide the best local news our readers have ever seen and stories you won’t get elsewhere.
The Leader started 25 years ago to bring you the stories of our community “Once a week, but never weakly.” While our printed newspapers remain the core of our business and our first love, expectations are shifting in our community, and we’ve taken note. The Leader’s digital baby – myleaderpaper.com – is growing faster now than ever before.
Since February, we’ve seen a 70 percent growth among digital readers. In February, we had about 100,000 online readers at myleaderpaper.com. In March, that number spiked to more than 193,000 digital readers. In the months since, the number has leveled out at about 170,000 digital readers a month. We also have seen growth in our social media channels and unprecedented engagement from our social media fans. All the while, we continued to mail our print newspapers to more than 70,000 households.
Local journalism matters to our communities, our businesses, our readers and to us. While some pundits have predicted the demise of local newspapers for well over a decade, we don’t see it that way. In fact, we are planning for growth at the Leader.
It may have to wait until the economy is stronger, but we are optimistic about the future and our mission to bring you local news each week.
Agree or disagree with my opinion? We welcome your opinion on this or any topic. Email letters to the editor to news@leaderpublications.biz or mail to P.O. Box 159, Festus MO 63028.
