Frank Amato
Associate Publisher
Dear valued readers,
As you may have noticed, we have made some major changes to our newspapers in the last few months. These changes were not made without serious thought.
Nationally, local daily newspapers are on the decline and are closing; we are making these changes so that we do not become part of that trend.
Four Monday editions of the Eagle Times costs us approximately $12,000 to print and deliver, while bringing in less than $1,000 in advertising and circulation revenue. By going to a digital only Monday edition, we improve our bottom line by $11,000 a month.
Since we brought the Argus-Champion back in 2011, it has not reached its financial goals.Combining the Argus-Champion into the Eagle Times is a way to streamline expenses, and keep it afloat.
We have temporarily suspended using one of our feature vendors, Universal, and are working diligently to find quality replacements for this content (puzzles, comics, columnists).
As some of you may recall in July 2009 the Eagle Times, and its sister papers were abruptly plowed in to bankruptcy by its then owner, leaving everyone in the region without a source for local news or a voice in local government. Our owner George “Scoop” Sample rescued the Eagle Times from extinction, and proceeded to revive a newspaper from darkness.
In any business, revenues must exceed expenses, period. When I started here in 2005 selling advertising, business was great, newspapers were one of the main sources of customers for our advertisers. We now have to share that with the internet, social media, and numerous other methods of advertising. That directly affects the revenue we now have to work with, and of course we must spend less.
The staff at the Eagle Times care deeply about our newspaper and our future. In the end, however, this newspaper has to be a viable business entity, or it will disappear again, likely not to return. Please support us in our quest to maintain a newspaper with quality LOCAL news.
Frank Amato
Associate Publisher
As your daily newspaper, we are committed to providing you with important local news coverage for Sullivan County and the surrounding areas.
