Chris Chapman
Wow, the last six months have flown by like nothing at all. It’s hard to believe 2023 is already gone. But like I frequently say in the office, onward and upward, and with that, Happy New Year, and let’s get into it.
First, I would like to thank all of you for supporting the newspaper. Without subscribers and businesses’ support, we simply would not exist. The level of importance of local news is incredibly high, and it seems to, in more recent years, always be teetering on the edge of failure. Or at least not that far off compared to other types of businesses. The reality is that every dollar that comes into the newspaper goes back into the newspaper. This isn’t uncommon for small businesses, but I wanted to write that statement out so that it was clear that your support matters to us, and we are truly grateful.
As with any change in ownership, there is always an adjustment period. In newspapers, this is usually represented by a drop in subscribers and advertisers and then a period of building trust to raise that level of confidence back up. In our case, it took the form of a slight dip in advertising and not so much as a blip in subscribers. The dip in advertising lands solely on our shoulders as we started with some changes in that department right out of the gate. While we are still working out some bugs, we have weathered the adjustment period and are back on point, or at least close.
The reality is that the “adjustment period,” or rather the lack thereof, really is indicative of solid community support. It shows that the community sees the importance of local news and is willing to stand by and support us while we figure things out. It shows the level of respect given to the newspaper, which I appreciate, and I would like to return a bit of that with some transparency.
Transparency is necessary for trust; it builds the foundation of a relationship and is an integral part of maintaining that relationship. As a supporter of the newspaper, it’s crucial for you to understand why we have made the choices we have made, as well as where we are going in the future. You spend your hard-earned dollars supporting us, so you have a right to know what that money is doing.
First, let’s start with personnel changes. Starting right out of the gate, we obviously lost Scott and Miriam Swanson. However, both of them played an essential role in the transfer and basically worked for free for several weeks to help make a smoother transition. We didn’t continue with one of our part-time editors or our part-time office assistant. So overall, we lost four bodies, three of which planned to move on to other opportunities anyway. We then lost a part-time sales rep for the same reason; she had an excellent opportunity elsewhere and took it. No blame there; I want to see everyone become successful, even if it isn’t under this roof. Next, we hired an intern to fill some of our reporters’ more time-consuming roles. Fresh out of high school, Sky Chappell is eager and has met the challenges head-on. I’ve been really impressed with that kid.
Shortly after that, Benny Westcott gave his two-month notice. He had been planning on returning to the east coast, where he is from, before the transition. It would put him closer to family and friends, and you can’t blame anyone for that. So that’s when we started seeking out a replacement. During that time, we lost our full-time sales rep; she moved out of town and was ready for something new and close to her new home. When I initially took over, I brought Firiel Severns with me to assist in the sales side of the business. She graciously stepped in and temporarily took over that position.
We then hired Ethan Hoagland, who took over for Benny when he left. Ethan was coming from a background in TV, but had a strong writing background as well. It was a good fit; he took on the role with a motivated attitude, and we had our Lebanon reporter, Sarah Brown, steady the boat while he adjusted. The transition went smoothly, with a few minor hiccups. After that, we hired another sales rep, John Drury, to take Firiel’s place, as she was only a temporary fix for that position. At this point, Ethan, who was planning on putting in the time with us, received an offer for a producer role at KOIN. Which, if you don’t know, would be a big jump in his career. He came to me respectfully, and we discussed it as it wasn’t his intention to hop off the boat, but really, how do you pass that up? The answer is you don’t. So, after a congratulating sentiment, he officially put in his month’s notice.
We have now brought on Kristy Tallman as his replacement. She is from the daily newspaper world and has hit the ground running. While it’s still relatively new, I believe she’s a good fit for our community. We will do a proper article later this month to give you the details.
Whew… Hopefully, you are still with me because that was a lot to ingest. I can safely say that I am now at a level of confidence with our team that I haven’t had since the start. A solid foundation has been built, and we can now begin to build upwards. I also must add that without Sarah, Jessica Sands, and Casey Rossio, none of this would have worked out as smoothly as it has. Truly, they have been an instrumental part of transitioning, and I am grateful every day for their loyalty and dedication.
Changes to the business
I wanted to also write about some of the changes we have made. Most of what we have done has been on the back side of the business, with very few front-facing changes as promised. One big one is we have brought our billing in-house and added the ability to pay online. We have also adjusted roles for people, adding responsibilities to some and removing responsibilities from others to free up time. Overall, it’s leveled the workload and allowed for maximum efficiency. We have transitioned to almost a totally paperless internal environment, saving a few workflows that require it. We have adjusted our production workflow from what took two editors nearly a week to put together and ship a newspaper to a single editor shipping within a day and a half.
Front-facing-wise, we have adjusted how we edit photos and art to allow for better print-quality production. We have worked with the press to nail that down a little better. We enlarged the body font ever so slightly to allow for easier readability. We have converted standard sizing advertising practices to a modular size practice, providing even ad stacking and making readability easier. All this was done with the “end-user,” aka you, in mind. Readability was the highest on the list of things we wanted to tackle initially.
Some of the other changes we have made have been to the office. We have pretty much redone most of the office, changed desk configurations, workstation upgrades, paint and decluttering. These changes created a more efficient environment, allowing us to maximize our time. It also allowed us to start the process of organizing our archives. Not just our newspaper archives but also our photo archives, which come in the form of old prints and negatives. This is crucial for us as it leads to what I want to write about next.
Upgrades & Changes!
Our first major hurdle in moving the needle forward is our online presence. While our website functions and is designed well, it is done so for a standard weekly paper. We intend to push that envelope and, in doing so, will require an upgrade. We are in that process now, so keep your eyes open for that on the horizon.
Once the upgraded site is in place, we will be focusing our attention on archives. We have almost 100 years of Sweet Home history bound in big leather books in our office, as well as 20 or so binders, and six boxes of photos and negatives. None of that is accessible unless you come into the office and crack it open. That has to change, and it’s going to. A part of the new site will feature an archives section. This section will contain all of our archives for digital consumption. Whatever we have stored will be searchable online. The goal is that if you are a subscriber, you can go online at any time, type in a name or other search term into the search bar, and you will be able to search the entirety of not only our more recent stories but also the stories from the last 90+ years. I am beyond excited about this, and I can’t wait to share it with all of you.
Now, with the new website, we are also looking at a change in the look and feel of The New Era and Lebanon Local. I know this is scary, and for a newspaper it’s like an unwritten rule to never do that. But it’s necessary to stay current, not to be left in the past but to be a part of the present. We devised a design that encompasses our history but also feels modern. I won’t go too much into it, but when we launch the new site, we will also launch the new style.
Overall, we have had a lot of back-end changes and challenges. But they have been necessary to get to a point where we have the time to build and add more value to the newspaper. It’s not a secret that newspapers worldwide are closing down. They made mistakes, chased the almighty ad dollar, forgot their roots, became activists instead of journalists, forgot the community they served, and the list goes on. The New Era hasn’t done that; we have a legacy of truth and community first and intend to stay that way. But we must also respect the community as a whole. Not just how it used to be but also how it is in the present. We must reach all members where they are, whether via print, web, app, or social. We need to be there and, to do that; we have to have the time. That has been the goal from the start: to simplify processes and make things more efficient to allow us time to reach out in other ways within our community. We have to do so without forsaking the past but embracing it as our foundation to build off of, and that’s what separates us from all the others.
I started by wishing you a happy new year and thanking you for supporting us. I’ll end it the same way. You recognize the importance of the news, and you show us support. We look forward to this next year, creating a more feature-rich environment, not to replace the old but to add to it. We have many more plans in store, but I’ve dribbled on long enough. So, I’ll end by simply writing thank you.