As with just about any business, customers decide the Register’s future.
I try not to think about that too hard, else I would never type a sentence.
I tell my staff to write for our readers, not for awards or sales metrics.
Art Cullen, the esteemed editor of The Storm Lake Times in Iowa, said a town is about as strong as its newspaper and its banks.
While I don’t have the inside scoop on our banks’ welfare, I can vouch that at 154 years old, the Register is holding its own.
All along our goal has been to build community by publicizing good deeds, reporting on crooks and thieves, providing a public forum for opinions, motivating people to get engaged in things like supporting our schools, recycling and rail trails, and making sure Allen County’s news is on the radar of our state and national leaders.
Editor Cullen also said that if a newspaper uses its power to build, its business will grow accordingly.
I wish that formula were ironclad.
As many publishers can attest, you can do everything right, and it’s still not enough.
Beginning in 2005, newspapers were slammed by the digital revolution when retailers began ditching print for the black hole of online advertising. There’s nothing “local” about Google or Facebook. In the last 15 years, more than 2,200 newspapers have closed up shop, creating “news deserts,” areas where counties lack any newspaper at all.
In the last 18 months, 80 newspapers have folded mainly because of lost advertising revenue caused by the pandemic.
Altogether, that’s 25% of U.S. newspapers.
The silver lining is that these hard times provide valuable lessons.
We know that readers’ habits are changing and that the incremental move away from our print product presents a challenge of how to “grow” new readers. Reading a newspaper today is becoming less of a shared activity when it’s read over a laptop or phone. There’s less “I want the sports!” and “Give me the comics!”
That reality has forced us to not only beef up our website but also be as relevant as possible no matter our format. We want you to need the Register to be fully informed about Allen County.
Though lofty, that goal is a boots-on-the-ground effort. Richard Luken is at every Iola Council meeting and ACC board. Vickie Moss covers local school boards and Allen County Commission. Reese Becker is now on sports. And my beat is Humboldt Council.
In-between official meetings we strive to tell the stories of local people and activities, from school plays to the bean harvest.
