The Eudora Times is again on hiatus this summer and is now closed until late August due to lack of funding.
It was a successful year in many ways. We transitioned to a new e-newsletter and professional website, which nearly 6,000 visitors have checked out.
We won five state reporting awards. We launched a new Readers Board. We received some significant donations that have allowed us to return in the fall.
More recently, we received support from the Journalism School to move into a new newsroom space within KU this fall and received new multimedia equipment that will help improve our visual reporting. We also will begin working with a representative to help us generate local advertising.
This fall will be different in other ways as well. Lucie Krisman, who has been with me and The Eudora Times since Day 1, graduated this past weekend as did Cami Koons and Nicole Asbury. They leave significant shoes to fill going forward.
Sports Editor Chris Fortune will be back in the fall as we work together to introduce a new group of journalism students to reporting in Eudora. We aim for them to have as valuable of an experience as those who came before them.
Our most significant challenge remains funding. We simply need more community support so that we don’t have to wonder every four months if we’ll have to shut down. We consistently need at least $10,000 of support each year from the community. Even committing $5 per month – less than the cost of a coffee, practically, to save local news – would be a significant help.
Research has shown time and time again the importance of a local newspaper in a community. A recent Kansas survey found 1.9 million active consumers read print and digital newspapers in Kansas every month. Most have lived in their communities for at least several years and want to know what is going on in their town.
Community newspapers remain the primary source – above local TV, social media and other websites – for information about schools, local government, high school sports and other local news.
So, we need you. We need you to help us help you. Please donate so that we’re able to keep publishing beyond the fall. Every bit helps. You can donate here: tinyurl.com/y4u7stxj
We’ll see you again in August.
