Print edition of The Lansing Journal planned for December

Local advertisers are making it possible

by Melanie Jongsma

LANSING, Ill. (October 19, 2020) – When the COVID-induced quarantine was enacted in mid-March, local businesses were impacted. Not only did the reduction in walk-in traffic impact their revenue, but also the constantly changing situation made it difficult to plan more than a few days in advance.

The result for The Lansing Journal was that businesses were unable to advertise. Since advertising is a main source of revenue, the Journal has not been able to produce a print edition since April.

We continued to publish online every day however. The nature of pandemic-related news demanded quick turnaround, and quarantined readers expressed appreciation for having a daily connection to the broader community. Because publishing and distributing news online is so much cheaper than printing and mailing a paper edition, we were able to continue serving our readers without missing a day, despite the drop in ad revenue.

Still, people often asked when we would be in print again.

So when we emailed our advertisers to gauge interest in purchasing space in a December print edition, their response was affirming. As of this writing, we have enough advertising commitments to cover the printing and distribution costs. By mid-November we hope to have enough to cover the costs of reporting and writing the news that will fill those paper pages.

Differences to expect

There will be some differences in the December issue. We’ll be using a different printing company, so the look and feel of the paper will be slightly different. And you might notice that fewer pages are in color.

We are also looking into a different means of distribution. In the past we’ve had some delivery issues with the post office’s Every Door Direct Mail service, and we want to avoid those if we can. We want to make sure every home in Lansing receives this print edition. We’ll let you know more about that as we get things locked into place.

Thanks to express

For now, I want to personally thank all of you digital readers and digital advertisers who kept this newspaper going through the past six months. Thank you for making changes to your reading preferences. Thank you for being willing to try new things. Thank you for sending checks and cards and notes and emails to let us know how much you value the work we’ve been doing.

You are the community in this community newspaper—and I am grateful.

We depend on the support of our readers in order to continue reporting and distributing local news—online every day and in print whenever possible. If you’d like to join our family of supporters, please click the link below:

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