When Leader readers learn about a need in our community, I know they will respond. It’s one of the things I love most about this job. We tell the story; you take action.
In March, we at the Leader pulled back the curtain a little to let our readers see the challenges we face as a locally owned, locally focused news organization.
In response, Leader readers stepped up to help guarantee we can keep telling our community’s stories now and into the future. Thousands of readers contributed to our Support Local Journalism campaign. Donations ranged from a few coins tossed in a bucket at Leader World Headquarters to a few hundred dollars given online or by check. We appreciate every penny.
We held a coordinated Support Local Journalism campaign with stories about the effort for one month. Our news space is precious and should be filled with stories about the community. However, our need for your support continues, and we will continue to accept donations year-round.
In addition to financial contributions, many donors included notes of encouragement.
We got handwritten messages from nonagenarians (readers in their 90s) who told us reading the Leader is sometimes their only contact with the community.
Sports moms and dads said they appreciated our coverage of high school teams.
Readers also said they look forward to agreeing or disagreeing with the columnists and letter writers on these pages.
Some said Thursday is Leader Day, and they couldn’t imagine a week without their newspaper.
We heard from Leader team players who told us “we” need to keep this going. And many, many readers told us, “I love the Leader.”
We love the work we do and plan to keep it going for many years to come. But truth told, it’s an uphill battle for us and newspapers across the country.
Research shows that a third of the nation’s newspapers have closed their doors since 2005.
In the past decades, many newspapers across the country were bought up by corporate overlords. Now, after draining the profits, slashing the newsrooms, and alienating local readers and advertisers, these hedge-fund operations are discarding the empty shells that used to be vibrant local news operations. Just last month, we learned that eight more community newspapers in Minnesota will cease to exist.
We never want that to happen to the Leader, and we pledge to continue the fight by looking at ways to adapt and change. We continue to review our own operation, looking for ways to save money, be more efficient and better serve our communities. We will continue to add new community events, like the South County Senior Expo we held May 1 and the Celebrating Women event we held on March 8. We will offer local businesses new advertising options to help them compete.
And, we will continue to deliver the local news our readers need. Having a strong, local newspaper is important to our democracy. Research shows that if a newspaper closes, people’s voting habits change. Fewer people vote and government corruption expands. It’s our job to watch what local governments are doing and report their actions to you.
Without our brand of local news, who will tell you about candidates for local school boards, city councils and county boards? Who will let you know that a fire district or city has proposed a tax increase? Who will let you know if your high school team won or what business is going in across the street? Who will make sure you learn who died and who got arrested and who is having a yard sale this weekend?
Gathering and sharing these stories takes trained journalists focused on the news that makes our readers better informed and our communities stronger.
Thousands of Leader readers agreed and felt strongly enough to put their money on the line.
Request the Leader today
Remember, the Leader needs your support in another way. Our priority is to keep your Leader coming for free to your mailbox. To make that happen, all readers living in Jefferson County must request the Leader every three years. Requesting once isn’t enough. If you can’t remember the last time you requested, it’s time. We don’t mind you renewing if your three years aren’t up yet. If your Leader doesn’t appear in your mailbox in the next few weeks, it could be that your request expired and we were compelled to temporarily stop your paper until you update your request.
You can renew by calling us at 636-931-7560, going to myleaderpaper.com or stopping by our office in Festus to let us know we should keep mailing your paper. It will be free. You just need to ask.