Most people have never talked to a journalist before. Would you know what to say to one? Most people won’t speak to a journalist in their lifetime!
Well, maybe you would if you felt deeply about something, felt you or someone else was mistreated or wronged or really wanted to spread the news about something special in your life or a cause you support.
When you read the paper or see an internet post, do you really feel connected to or even think about the person who wrote the article or editorial?
Here are the names of some of our journalists, photographers and Behind- the-scenes folks here at the PPB: Rhonda, Bill, John, Daniel , Warren , Jeanne, Tony, Lyn, Michelle, Robyn, Karen, Gina, Jules, Ralph, Noah, Charles.
And these are our incredible board members who really make things happen for our little local newspaper: Annie, Laura, Steve, Becca, Chris, Jared, Jenna and Gaye. We are real people with lives, jobs and feelings. Joy and trauma touch our lives just like yours. Our job is to tell your stories.
WE NEED TO KNOW each other in deeper ways.
Do you feel connected to us? I don’t know. I can tell you that, in the past six months since we hit the reset button for the PPB, one of my burning desires was to get this right, to better understand our communities and what you want in a trusted local news source. We have conducted community meetings in Manitou, Old Colorado City and up Ute Pass.
We asked these questions: 1. How can we make the PPB more relevant to your community? 2. How can we help build a better community? 3. Where have we not been serving the community? Where’s the gap?
We listened and heard what you thought and wanted from the Pikes Peak Bulletin.
Now, back to my first few paragraphs. We heard you say how closeknit and connected your community is. That is, the community of Manitou Springs, the communities of the Lower Ute Pass, the community of Old Colorado City (which clearly feels like the red-headed stepchild of Colorado Springs.) The communities the PPB serves spans about the length of 15 miles! Only 15 miles! What struck me personally is what you collectively didn’t really say, but what undoubtedly came through. You are communities not connected to each other.
Hence my first question: do you feel connected to the folks who are writing the words you read, telling your stories, taking pictures of your communities? I feel, and our newsroom feels, so much more connected to you, our readers, because of your feedback. And we want you to feel that connection, too! We are all fellow human beings on this journey of Life.
In a recent essay by William McKenzie, senior editorial adviser at the Bush Institute, he stated this: “strong local newspapers are a key to strengthening our democracy. At the same time that local newspapers are collapsing or under stress, new models are emerging to strengthen local news reporting. In those, we should draw strength and look to for the health of our democracy.”
Hedge funds, billionaires and private-equity groups are gobbling up local newspapers and creating havoc with the information that our communities receive. My point? We need each other! We need to know each other in deeper ways.
The PPB is a new emerging model of community powered media. We want you to know us better as we learn more about you, about each other.
As more individuals, foundations and funding sources such as the Rose Foundation in Denver and the Pikes Peak Give! campaign here in El Paso County are learning more about the PPB and how they (you) can support us, we are likewise committed to building connected communities.
Our home, where we live, work and explore. We have ideas, and your feedback on how to do this better, how to get it right, how to know each other in deeper ways. Stay tuned, please; the PPB will be here every day working hard for you and for our democracy.
Great slogans like “Support your Vets,” “Save the Whales” and “No child left behind” inspire people to financially invest in good causes. Only this morning I read about a local organization asking for support to raise $150,000 for their well-deserved campaign.
If I said “Support Local Journalism” would you get as excited? I don’t know! But these are the words and plea for a vibrant future — for our families, businesses and communities. This may be the most important slogan you will hear or read about in the years to come.
Think about it, my friends and neighbors? Support Local Journalism! Support the Pikes Peak Bulletin today!
Please use the QR code, send your check to P.O. Box 1022, Manitou Springs 80829, or go to pikespeakbulletin.org/subscribe to donate or subscribe.
