Weekly editor: Supporting advertisers ensures that good community journalism remains alive and well

Mary Henkel Judson

If you love good community journalism, support the advertisers who help keep the newspaper afloat, writes Mary Henkel Judson, editor and co-publisher of the Port Aransas South Jetty in southeastern Texas. "If you look forward to reading the South Jetty each week, if you count on it for factual news you can trust about the people, places and events that matter to you in Port Aransas, I have a suggestion: Support those the businesses and individuals who place advertising in the South Jetty—advertising that works for them, and supports good journalism."

Advertisers are the reason employees get paychecks and bills get paid, she writes. "Our staff puts blood, sweat, tears and many hours into their work to make sure our stories reflect the standards of good journalism, from the hottest controversy to meetings of civic organizations; to make sure that your advertising does its job to bring customers to your business and to make sure all this is presented in a way that makes it easy and attractive for readers to consume, whether in print or online."

"No newspaper can survive without the support of its advertisers," she writes. "Subscription costs do not cover the actual cost of mailing and do nothing toward the cost of producing the newspaper. Advertisers, therefore, are responsible for making the South Jetty, and every other newspaper, possible. With more advertising, a newspaper can offer more and better content and can hire and/or retain better qualified reporters, photographers, editors and other staff members to create an improved product."

"Good newspapers are essential for communities because they are rallying points around which the entire community can gather and participate," she writes. They are available to all, not just those with computers. If it’s important to you to be kept informed about what our city council and school board are doing that may impact you financially and socially, if it’s important to you to know what is happening in town that might affect your quality of life or well-being, if it’s important to you to know how well your tax dollars are educating our students and maintaining our infrastructure, you need to support the advertisers that make it possible for the South Jetty to report on those things—and much more." (Read more)