Public forum to be held on September 18
By STEVEN JUPITER
Since our first issue in December of 2022, the independent, nonprofit version of The Reporter has tried its best to be a reliable source of news and entertainment for Brandon, Pittsford, and the surrounding communities. We’re very proud of the work we’ve done for the last three years, but practical realities have made it impossible to continue publishing the paper in its current format.
Our operating expenses are outstripping our revenues, our personnel are overextended, reading habits are changing…all of it is forcing us to make major changes in how the paper is conceived.
We are extremely grateful to all who have supported us through subscriptions, newsstand purchases, donations, ad placement, and editorial contributions, but in order for some version of the paper to survive, the current version must end.
The decision was not made lightly. We know many readers rely on us for information about local events and affairs. Many readers look forward to our human-interest stories about local folks and organizations. We have been the paper of legal record for several towns in our coverage area, including Brandon and Pittsford. The cessation of The Reporter is a big loss for our communities.
Back in 2022, The Reporter’s previous owner, The Addison Independent, sought to streamline its own operations and looked to transfer ownership of The Reporter to a nonprofit. George Fjeld, Barbara Ebling, and I created that nonprofit, now a 501c3, to receive ownership of the paper. We do not own the paper personally—it is owned by the 501c3 and overseen by a five-person Board of Directors. No one on the Board, including me and George, has received any compensation for their work on the paper and none of us will seek any compensation as we begin to wind things down. All the financial assets of the nonprofit will go to pay our obligations (to our two paid employees, to the printing press, and to The Addison Independent, which has provided essential support services to us).
We would love to see some version of the paper continue. To that end, we’ll be holding a public forum on Thursday, September 18 at 7 p.m. in the downstairs meeting room at the Brandon Town Hall. The purpose of the forum is to help the community decide what kind of paper it wants and can sustain.
However, it must be stated that others will need to step up to make this happen. We are happy to help the community think through the possibilities, and to offer our advice and guidance, but the execution of any plan will depend on a new team of community members coming forward to oversee the editorial and operational processes. As happy as we were to publish The Reporter for the last three years, George and I cannot continue to provide these services ourselves. It’s time for new faces, new voices, new perspectives, and new energy.
Predictably, the main issues affecting sustainability are costs and personnel.
For perspective, it costs roughly $100,000 per year just to publish the paper in its current physical format, including printing costs and payroll for our part-time graphic designer and part-time operations coordinator. Printing costs have increased substantially in the time we’ve been managing the paper, putting a significant strain on our budget. And this figure does not include payroll for an editor, business manager, and reporters, as those jobs are currently done on a volunteer basis. Nor does it include the essential support services provided by The Addison Independent, with whom we have a contractual agreement. If we included those other costs and relied on paid labor, the yearly expense of publishing the paper would be closer to $200,000. In 2024, our gross revenue was $95,400.
Even with the generous donations and grants we’ve received, including $5,000 from the Brandon Trustees of Public Funds in 2024, we are unable to cover the expense of publication. Over the years, we have done more and more in-house to reduce expenses, though this has in turn greatly taxed our staff. With fewer than 500 paid subscribers, diminishing ad revenue, strained personnel, and increasing costs, a major overhaul is undeniably warranted.
Our costs could be lessened significantly by shrinking the size of the paper, reducing the frequency of publication, limiting coverage to Brandon (with other towns managing their own independent publications), or changing the format to online only. All these options are on the table.
As for personnel, it would be easier to sustain a paper if the editorial and operational tasks were divvied up among teams of volunteers rather than handled by individuals. We are happy to train new teams to carry on the work.
These are some of the choices that the community will need to evaluate as it decides what it wants and can maintain.
We believe that local news is vital to the health and cohesion of small communities like ours. We would not have worked so hard for the last three years if we didn’t. We hope there are others in the community who share that belief and will be able to continue providing this essential community service.
Please join us on September 18, if you can. If you’re unable to attend but would like to be involved or offer feedback, please reach out to us at news@brandonreporter.com.
