Support local journalism

Thomas Jefferson famously said, "were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter."

In Traverse City, a small step toward the tragedy of the former happened today, when the Traverse City Record-Eagle announced that it would stop printing its Monday and Tuesday editions due to advertising losses suffered because of the COVID-19 pandemic:

https://www.record-eagle.com/news/r-e-will-stop-monday-tuesday-print-editions/article_05727e20-8677-11ea-ac22-7ba741ba9adb.html 

A strong community newspaper performs a vital public service.  Traverse City is lucky to have the Record-Eagle as a watchdog of the public interest, as Jefferson envisioned. I'm a former reporter there. I've been out of the business for many years now, but as a longtime subscriber and Traverse City resident I value them for everything from their determination to hold those in power accountable to the robust opinion page to the Amish Cook column and Dear Abby.  

The best way to support them is to subscribe:  https://www.record-eagle.com/subscriptions/

If you can, please do that first. However, if you already subscribe, or can't afford to do so, your contribution here is welcome. All net funds will be contributed to the Record-Eagle to use at their discretion. 

"Democracy dies in the dark" is another truth about the public's right to information about their government, at all levels. The goal is ambitious ($20,200 in 2020) but the value of the light a newspaper shines is priceless. Please support local journalism and the Traverse City Record-Eagle. Thank you.

Read more about the importance of local journalism at the links below. Top and bottom photos taken at a March 2017 community rally to support a free press held in front of the Record-Eagle and provided courtesy of Ashlea Walter. 

https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/09/local-newspapers-are-suffering-but-theyre-still-by-far-the-most-significant-journalism-producers-in-their-communities/ 

https://pen.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Losing-the-News-The-Decimation-of-Local-Journalism-and-the-Search-for-Solutions-Report.pdf

https://www.dailyrepublic.com/all-dr-news/solano-news/local-features/local-lifestyle-columns/why-your-local-newspaper-is-a-treasure/