By Greg Moore
Executive Editor
In my conversations with Gazette-Mail readers, by both email and phone, I find myself thanking them more and more regularly.
Doesn’t matter if they’re suggesting a story, or complaining about one that’s been written, or having trouble logging in to our website, or saying they can’t get a carrier to put the paper on the front porch. I usually say some version of, “Thank you for telling us about this. We always like to hear from our readers.”
I might not have meant it every single day of my decades-long journalism career, but I mean it now.
A year and a half ago, I didn’t know if I would have a job in a few weeks. Neither did anyone else I worked with at the Gazette-Mail.
Our company was bankrupt and for sale, following the path of so many American newspapers over the past couple of decades. Would we be swallowed up by a chain that would slash our staff, or bought up by venture capitalists who would drain as much money from us as they could?
Instead, we got bought by a group of regional investors who — although they still care about making money — came on board because they believe in the importance of local journalism.
Now, 18 months later, we’re still telling the stories we believe our readers want to hear, and the stories we believe they should hear. …
