COLUMN: Why I think the Herald is worth paying for

Published 1:04 pm Wednesday, December 18, 2019

I think the Baker City Herald is a bargain.

But I also believe that this newspaper and the information it gathers and reports, much of which is not available anywhere else, is too valuable to give away.

The Herald, which will celebrate its 150th birthday in 2020, has never been free. And although I wasn’t around for most of that considerable span, I feel confident in saying that readers over those many generations have recognized that a credible newspaper, in common with other products and services in the marketplace, comes with a price tag.

We publish about 155 issues every year, and we’ll deliver every one of those to customers in town for $10.80 per month (mail subscriptions are $12.50). Copies are also available at dozens of places around the city for $1.50 each.

The advent of the Internet, of course, has had dramatic effects on newspapers and, indeed, on all forms of media.

A newspaper can hardly claim to be current if it lacks a website and a social media presence, and the Herald’s website — www.bakercityherald.com — has been around since 2001. We’ve been on Facebook since 2010.

Until late this summer our website was a compromise of sorts. It was free to all, but the content was limited. The advertisements printed in the paper weren’t available, and some of the news stories were abbreviated versions of what was printed in ink.

The situation changed in September when, under the ownership of the EO Media Group, we launched a new website. This site is much more comprehensive — more stories, and the full rather than edited versions.

But the site was still free.

We never intended this to be permanent, and for the same reason that grocery stores don’t let you fill a shopping cart and roll it out without paying, and restaurants don’t serve free meals.

Those businesses have to spend money to buy products, and they have to pay employees to stock their shelves and prepare the food. They could hardly stay open if they didn’t charge customers.

Newspapers are no different.

It takes time — which is to say, money — for us to assemble those 155 annual issues. We attend public meetings to keep track of how government agencies are spending your tax dollars. We interview and photograph your friends, relatives and neighbors to find out what’s happening in their lives, and in our community. We go to sporting events and schools and other venues to chronicle the achievements, in the classroom and on the field and the court, of the young students and athletes who make us proud.

We also provide space to businesses which pay us to advertise their wares.

That the Herald’s website is no longer free reflects not only the significant increase in the amount of content available there, but also the respect we have for our subscribers.

We can’t very well expect them to pay for the news we gather when other people are getting the same information for free.

Since the change to the website we’ve received a handful of complaints, most of these comments posted on our Facebook page, where we often post links to stories on the website.

Facebook, of course, is free.

But we’re using social media in the same way that other businesses do — to alert our customers to new content that’s available to them as subscribers.

That content is not limited to digital versions of news articles, editorials and columns, either.

Subscribers also have access to what we call our “e-edition” or “replica edition.” This version includes pdfs of every page in the paper, complete with advertising.

The Baker City Herald probably wouldn’t have survived for a year, much less for a century and a half, without the constant support of readers who recognize the value of the information we provide and are willing to pay a very modest sum for it.

I think we are obliged to reward that loyalty by adjusting to changes in technology and making sure that our subscribers can get local news where, when and in what form, is most convenient for them.

Jayson Jacoby is editor of the Baker City Herald.

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