Every month from November 2008 through most of the coronavirus pandemic, our readers have been treated to free delivery of The Coastal Star. Our high-quality local news coverage is paid for almost entirely by advertising income from businesses in our community.
Please be grateful to them for their support of community journalism.
Last summer the economic slowdown related to the global pandemic slammed the nation. In addition to killing more than 575,000 Americans, it forced the closure of many small businesses and sent millions into unemployment lines.
That economic downturn has turned into a 34% drop in advertising income for this newspaper. Last summer we made the painful decision to skip the June, August and October editions just to make sure we could keep publishing.
This summer the lingering effects of the pandemic slowdown mean we will skip the July and September editions.
Why?
Just as many of you have focused this past year on your household budgets, many of our advertisers have done the same and continue to pause their advertising, or to cut back on overall spending.
Our most loyal partners have stayed in the paper and continue to reach our community. We hope you will continue to give them your support.
Arts-related advertising took an especially deep dive after the pandemic forced the closure of most entertainment venues. And now we’re into the summer months when most wind down their live performances to prepare for the season ahead.
The good news is that most arts venues are telling us they will return full force in the fall with exciting programming scheduled for the 2021-2022 season. So, I am happy to say we plan to resume our every-month schedule in October. Look for our ArtsPaper Season Preview to return in that edition.
Even as our print newspaper skips a couple of months of publication this summer, we will continue to keep an eye on our communities at town meetings, in our neighborhoods and along the coast. We’ll post “need-to-know” news on our website, www.thecoastalstar.com, and site members will receive alerts when breaking news events warrant. The site is free to join.
We plan to keep our online community calendar continuously updated.
Just the basic printing and delivery of The Coastal Star cost us almost $20,000 each month. If you would like to contribute to help cover this expense and assure the continuation of this community news publication, you can donate to our nonprofit journalism fund, a 501(c)(3), at https://fpf.column.us/the-coastal-star.
Have a great summer!
Jerry Lower
Publisher
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