By Neena Strichart
Publisher
It seems there is neverending controversy over the status of newspapers in general. Some report that printed media is dead–while others claim they prefer to read their news printed on something they can hold vs. reading it on the Internet. The saying “to each his own” is certainly apropos in this case.
We feel blessed to have been in business under the Steve and Neena Strichart publishership (is that a word?) for more than eight years. Our official eight-year anniversary in business was February 24. Congratulations to us. It has been, and will most likely continue to be, an uphill battle–yet a hill worth climbing. All this newspaper controversy has brought one very important piece of information to light–newspapers are advertising-revenue driven. Period. Most folks don’t realize–no ads, no paper. If we don’t have ads, we can’t pay writers, or staff, or the rent, or the distribution people, or the phone company, or the taxman, on and on–ad nauseum.
Also, if we don’t have advertising dollars we can’t run stories or photos about local events that you may not find anywhere else–in print or on a Web site. You won’t know what happened at the Signal Hill council meeting, or where to go for local entertainment. You won’t be able to learn details about some new local businesses, or other interesting items pertaining to Bixby Knolls news, Cal Heights happenings, and what’s new in Wrigley.
Our paper is free–to you–it is not free to us.
Many of you have heard or read elsewhere that 7th District Councilmember Reyes-Uranga has asked the city of Long Beach to look into the amount of dollars it spends on advertising with the city’s local daily newspaper. It’s a bundle–I guarantee it. Oh, we get a few dollars to run Long Beach advertisements–but most of the time when we call about paid advertising, we are told there is no money left in the budget for this or that event or special project. Nevertheless, we do our best to keep running press releases about their city parks and recreation events, etc. Why don’t we say–no pay, no play? Sometimes I would like to–however, I don’t think it would be fair to our readers. You folks have the right to know what’s happening and I do my best not to let dollars come between the news and us.
So with that said, I hope that Councilmember Reyes-Uranga digs in her heels and looks further into how the city spends its advertising dollars. We at the Signal Tribune offer a valuable service and deserve to be paid for it.
