Jill's Journal: It’s like a death in the family

I love community journalism. The blank ink from the paper on my hands as I deliver bundles to the newsstands. The thrill of telling a good story or educating the public on a topic of importance. Celebrating the big wins, sympathizing in the hard losses. Getting to know the people that are our friends and neighbors

I had a bit of a skip in my step last Thursday morning. I was eagerly anticipating a great day of greeting possible new and current subscribers coming through the doors of the Brandon Valley Journal to join in the celebration of the start of our ninth year of publication. 

But, this morning after picking up birthday cakes at Sunshine and finalizing preparations for our party, I scrolled through my email only to find to a sad message from Dave Bordewyk, the executive director of the South Dakota NewsMedia Association. Following is a portion of his news:

TO: SDNA Board

As you may have seen, News Media Corporation today announced it was immediately closing all of its newspapers, including its four SD flags: Brookings Register, Huron Plainsman, Moody County Enterprise and Redfield Press. Employees of those newspapers and other properties in other states were learning of the sudden closure via email from the company CEO today.

Awful and sad news, to say the least …

For those of us in the industry, to learn that communities in our great state one week had a community newspaper and the next, it was gone just like that, we are sad. Our hearts hurt for those communities that no longer have a local news source that is there to document every day happenings, events and decisions made by local government and the school district that impact the community in ao many ways.

When last week’s news came out that these four papers in South Dakota abruptly closed their doors, many of you were concerned the same could happen here, too. I am working hard every day to make sure we’re here for many years to come. But let’s be honest, we need your support. We need you to subscribe or purchase a copy of the Journal from one of the local newsstands, or tune into us through our e-edition. We need you to tell your neighbors, “Hey, we’ve got a newspaper here that’s dedicated to us.”

And of course, we need you to advertise with us. That, my friends, is the bread and butter for us to keep the press rolling.

“Buy Brandon” has long been the Brandon Valley Area Chamber of Commerce’s mantra. It’s not just a catchy phrase. There’s so much more behind those two words. It means survival to businesses of all sizes: small, medium and large. And it’s not just the hardware store, the grocery store and our restaurants. It’s all of us. The local mechanic. The local laundry service. Our local farmers’ market. The local car wash. And, yes, even your local newspaper.

Local news is not dead. Actually, local news is more alive than ever.

Because we have to be.

Because we need to be.

And because of all of you.