Musings – on the editor’s mind

This is my first column here since September. I reserve this space for considerations that are reflective and personal. The first person “I” is rarely in an editorial. Musings, by both their title and nature, are personal. I am the person wondering about the night sky, the turn of the seasons, the rain – or lack of it, being a child of a Depression era mother and our unprecedented president, Donald Trump.

Here I have shared both my perspective on the press and the experiences of publishing this newspaper. Here is another chapter.

You are holding in your hands your independent, hometown, award-winning newspaper, as proclaimed on the top of page one. Like Jason Miller, publisher of the Concrete Herald, I own and manage the newspaper. Jason occasionally writes an editorial, but the Weekly News is the only Skagit County newspaper offering its readers an editorial every week. Why is that?

First, this owner lives where he works. School disputes, COVID-19 challenges, economic woes, the possibility of pet parades are in our shared experiences. And when Trump threatens the post office or advocates voting twice, this editor has both an assessment and an opinion to share about your post office and the integrity of your, and all, votes.

The county’s larger papers have absentee, corporate owners. They do not live in your hometown. Their lived experiences are not yours. I share yours.

About award winning: I am proud of the recognition given to Bill Reynolds, Pat Paul, Mel Damski, Nancy Crowell, Sarah Walls and Don Coyote for their work.

The editorials and musings columns have also won awards.

Fewer papers write home-based editorials these days. I speculate that their decline years ago was the fear of offending advertisers. Today the concern is readers quitting.

I do not want readers to leave.

My goal is engagement, not agreement. I promote participation, not applause and respect the various views of the community. I always want to hear from everyone willing to share their perspectives.

Everyone supports the schools. There is no litmus test to join the fire department. The community is bound tighter together when more people read the newspaper and discuss the contents on every page, not just the editorials.

I understand that society no longer has the faith of the father who had his daughter write to the New York Sun to have them answer, “Is there a Santa Claus?” telling her, “If you see it in The Sun you know it is true.”

In January a yearly subscription rises to $60. That is about $1.20 an issue. Everyone buying the paper will total less than 30% of annual revenues. Readers will continue to be subsidized by advertisers. A poor economy will threaten the survival of the Weekly News. The rate increase helps only a little.

In my ideal world, readers would own the paper. Even after those who understand that possibility work it into reality, I will continue to muse on matters large and small that I observe in my day and in yours.

Thank you, again, for subscribing to the La Conner Weekly News. Thank you for holding on to this thread that stitches our community a little closer together.

Keep reading, thinking, observing and discussing the world, and therefore the news, around you.