Community Matters
Staying Alive
By Jeffrey S. Hall
July 15, 2009
Jeffrey S. Hall
Times are tough in the publishing business, everyone knows that.
But my marching orders from our readers, advertisers and community leaders are very clear: Stay alive, no matter what it takes.
Popular wisdom has it that the Internet is putting papers and magazines out of business. I don’t think that’s too big a factor at the local level – at least not yet. Right now, it’s truly the crummy economy that’s holding us back.
Whatever cutbacks we have to undertake for now are OK and understandable; our readers and advertisers will forgive us, I’m told. The key thing is to stay alive.
In recent months we’ve been on an irregular publishing cycle, as we wait for enough advertising revenue to come in so we can pay the printer and the delivery service. But advertisers are crying the blues these days and have cut way back, so there’s only so much we can do.
So I’ve decided to call this our 'summer' issue and we’ll see you again in September. Maybe by then the economy will be better.
In the meantime, I urge you to go to our website, www.WestsideToday.com, and check out all the daily activity. You, too, can be a reporter and post your own stories and calendar items directly onto our site.
If you go to the site, scroll down the left side till you get to 'contribute.' Then you can click on the links and 'fill in the blanks.'
Though we’ve not publicized this 'post your own story' feature on our site, it’s amazing how many people have figured it out on their own. During the finals week of American Idol, someone wrote an article that discussed the politics behind voting for Adam Lambert vs. Chris Whatever-His-Name-Was.
Suddenly there was an explosion of people commenting on the original story by Charlotte Laws and we were the number-one ranked site on Google for a few days when it came to stories about Adam Lambert.
If your 'inner journalist' has something to get off his or her chest, now’s your chance. We do review stories before they appear on the site, but usually this doesn’t take long.
We also work with some terrific guys from Price & Item Media who put out a series of 'This Week' e-mail blasts. This nifty service that tells you, community-by-community, what’s going on in the neighborhood each week. Go to
www.ThisWeekInBeverlyHills.com,
www.ThisWeekInBrentwood.com,
www.ThisWeekInSantaMonica.com,
www.ThisWeekInPalisades.com and
www.ThisWeekInMalibu.com to sign up.
I personally think all these digital reading devices we’re hearing about will be the ultimate answer here. I played with an Amazon Kindle the other day and liked it; there’s a device from a company called 'Plastic Logic' that will be released soon that looks very cool; and of course, who would be surprised if Apple came out with something amazing?
Hang in there with us as we hang in there by our fingernails. We’ve survived 18 years. Somehow, some way, we’ll make it through this as well.
Have a great summer!
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Comments to date: 2. Page 1 of 1. Mambo Venice Beach | 11:32am on Thursday, August 27th, 2009 | Don't you think you're being a little hard on the guy, Trish? He admitted to not knowing the guy's last name, why should he know how to spell the first? |
Trish Chicago | 9:34am on Thursday, July 16th, 2009 | Your "inner journalist" needs a proofreader. In the comment regarding Adam Lambert and "Chris" ... it's Kris with a K. You just blew your credibility, pal. |
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