For a few days last week, it looked as if the print and digital news business was nearing collapse.
National Geographic and Time magazine laid off journalists. Union employees of the iconic Condé Nast organization staged a one-day strike to protest looming cuts. Business Insider and Forbes both announced layoffs.
And then the Los Angeles Times, the largest newspaper in the western United States, announced it was giving pink slips to 115 people, slashing 20 percent of its newsroom.
At the national level in 2023, CNN, The Washington Post, NPR, Vice Media, Sports Illustrated, Vox Media, NBC News and CNBC have passed out pink slips to many employees.
In other industries, eBay, Microsoft and UPS all announced layoffs.
As the PPB and other Colorado news sources reported in late December, the CS Indy, our area’s alternative newspaper that began publishing in 1993, was going dark to reorganize and assess the future.
Welcome to 2024!
So back to the Bulletin. This week, we’re printing more papers, mailing and distributing to more readers and potential supporters than we have in the past 100 years that this newspaper and its forebears have been on the newsstands!
Why is that, you may ask? A bit of luck, calculated hope and a whole lot of long hours and hard work from our incredible, growing staff and board of directors.
That’s where YOU come in, yes — you, our valued readers. We need your help to spread this good news for a change. We need your support, and we very much need more subscribers.
Perhaps you could help by giving subscriptions to family, friends and neighbors? They’re only 65 bucks a year!
We also need more advertisers from our growing community, which stretches from Lower Ute Pass to downtown Colorado Springs — we’ve expanded our distribution to 24 additional locations in the metropolis to the east.
We are able to do this thanks to our wonderful advertisers and financial supporters who believe, along with us, that community journalism plays a crucial role in fostering civic engagement and active citizenship. We believe that, by covering local government meetings, elections and community events, our community journalists keep residents informed about the issues that directly impact their lives.
Our social media presence is growing, too, as more and more people are following our Facebook page. As of Jan. 31, we had 923 followers in Colorado Springs, 433 in Manitou and a total of 182 in other Colorado cities.
Our U.S. followers total 2,758 people and we have followers in Mexico, the United Kingdom and several European, Asian and African countries. These could be people who once lived in Manitou or want to live here or visit. They also want to know what’s going on in the Pikes Peak region.
In our current polarized political and social climate, many folks are questioning the ecosystem of information. We are thankful that you believe and trust us here at the PPB.
A quote from the Newberry Observer in South Carolina sums it up. “Local journalism is a public service that reports on everything that affects the everyday lives of everyday people. Journalists focus on the community, local government, events and every major or minor happenings around residents living in a small community (such as you, the reader of the Newberry Observer)” Or, as in your case, a Bulletin reader.
Our board of directors is meeting in the next month to brainstorm and create our very much discussed and needed strategic plan, which will guide us in all we do into this year and the years ahead.
I have shared this quote from Sue Cross of the Institute for Nonprofit News before, but it’s worth stating again: “In the next 10 years, we will see a new ecosystem of independent and interconnected news media, a mix of nonprofit and for-profit that each serves a distinct audience but works in consortium with others at the local, state, and national level.”
Please, once again, I humbly request that you help “spread the good news” by supporting local journalism. Subscribe to and support the PPB today!
