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Thursday, July 27, 2023

Woodford Sun Column. White Lines by Scott White "Support Democracy"

SUPPORT DEMOCRACY

By Scott White

There is a new sign on The Woodford Sun’s front door, “Subscribe: Support Democracy.” We at the Sun are the successors to 154 years of journalism that reports, investigates, and tells the stories of Woodford County and its small towns and hamlets. It is a role that is expressly required by both the United States and Kentucky constitutions.
Adopted in 1791, the First Amendment of the federal constitution states that “Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press . . ..” Section 8 of Kentucky’s 1891 Constitution says that “every person may freely and fully speak, write and print on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty.” Though the responsibility of accountability is implicit in the First Amendment it is explicit in Section 8.
And this is something we take deadly serious at the Sun. Our reporters meet weekly to discuss possible stories, upcoming local government meetings and expected actions (or inactions), things the community is commemorating or worrying over, and holding each other accountable with respect to ethics, fairness, thoroughness and accuracy. We jealously guard against any attempt to intimidate, influence or give passes from potentially critical coverage. This ethos, drilled into us by our Hall of Fame editor and publisher Ben Chandler Jr. who shepherded the Sun for over 60 years, is our guiding principle.
At the risk of appearing self-congratulatory, the Sun does a pretty darn good job in fulfilling its constitutional duty to inform, challenge and celebrate Woodford Countians. 
Examples? Bob Vlach’s encyclopedic knowledge from the public library to the politics and policies of the public school system and land use planning. Bill Caine’s tireless coverage of every sport from elementary to high school whether girl’s golf or Dennis Johnson’s football teams. Melissa Patrick’s focused coverage of city hall and the fiscal court along with important pieces on current health care issues. Beyond this hard news, every week the Sun publishes features on interesting people, restaurants, local businesses, civic events, festivals and arts. Marla Carroll, our design editor, culls out news events published both in the Sun and its sister predecessor the Bluegrass Clipper between 10 and 125 years ago.
We do a lot.
Last week, I was fortunate to attend the third annual National Summit on Journalism in Rural America put on by the University of Kentucky’s Institute for Rural Journalism. Al Cross, the director of the Institute and highly respected former state government reporter and columnist at the Courier Journal and commentator on KET, gathered an incredible lineup of speakers from both academia and real world journalism. The topics did not focus on “how to do” journalism like some continuing education seminar. No, the focus was on how rural journalism can survive in an economy dominated by digital formats dolling out clickbait to lure advertisers and readers which, in large part, ignore the accountability required of a responsible free press.
Threats are not just digital outlets but corporations that purchase small newspapers who then centralize their functions to promote “efficiencies” to maximize profits which inevitably leads to a near absence of local reporting. Most of us already knew of the hundreds of papers that had closed due to bankruptcies or died from simply closing their doors (and presses) for lack of sufficient advertising revenues to support the business of putting out a paper. We already knew the reality that many local and reliable advertisers had been subsumed by national and regional chains that cut “local” papers from their operating budgets.
These are facts we deal with every day at the Sun. It is probably why our de facto leader Mimi Logsden spends so much time poring over accounts. Why Sherry Walsh, who runs advertising, worries when local businesses decline to advertise telling her, “We’ll think about it.”
It is why I went to the Rural Journalism Conference. And, what I learned filled me with real hope that the Sun will survive the new realities facing us.
Over the next few weeks, we are going to be exploring everything from enhancing digital advertising on our Facebook and websites, subscription rates, monetizing the relaunch of the Midway Messenger, leveraging our signature industries of bourbon and equine, partnering with other players in the community, and introducing an e-mail weekly newsletter. We are motivated to create healthy revenue sources not just for our business needs but to be able to fulfill our community obligation as the current stewards of the Sun.
The heartening thing about the Conference was hearing so many success stories and strategies that worked. David Woronoff, the publisher of The Pilot in Southern Pines, North Carolina, talked about how he used the truthful phrase that “advertising makes a free press possible” as the theme for building a consistent local advertiser base. Jack Rooney, the managing editor of the Keene Sentinel in New Hampshire, told of how they use the paper’s anniversary to host a community festival that has become a significant revenue source. Joey and Lindsey Young who publish three weeklies in different rural Kansas counties explained how running a transparent, in-depth front-page story titled “The Cost to Print” led them to roll the dice by doubling the subscription price but still saw subscriptions increase 40 percent in two years. And Zachary Mathews of the prestigious School of Journalism at Northwestern University discussed existing foundations, like Knight, which provide grants to local journalism as part of its free press project. There was lots more.
The Woodford Sun is an exciting and fulfilling place to work. We get into the weeds of our local government and schools. We have our fingers on the pulse of what is important whether it’s good news or a threat to our way of life. We get to celebrate with you. We get to tell your stories. More headier, we are active participants, every day, in our country’s democracy.
We only ask you help us, which helps you. Subscribe, buy an ad, submit a “letter to the editor,” send us a picture or tell us about an event we need to tell others about. 
Support democracy.

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CALL. - 859.873-4131; OR, ON-LINE - woodfordsun.com

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