Clark

On Tuesday, March 31, East Oregonian Editor Andrew Cutler wrote a very important “From the Editor’s Desk” commentary explaining that “Our company is in survival mode.” This is a critically important message for all of us living in the area covered by the EO and it needs our action.

If the EO shuts down, consider the situation of not having any local coverage so that we, the readers of our newspaper, are ignorant of what is going on around us.

• No news of important and interesting activities and events that are happening in our area.

• No news concerning issues about which we need to be knowledgeable as responsible and informed residents.

• None of the informative anecdotes about local people.

• No photos of the whats and wheres and the goings-on in our towns.

• Nothing about our young people who are excelling in academics and/or sports.

• Nothing to keep us cognizant about births and deaths and marriages and miscellaneous activities.

And so on and so on and so on.

Let’s not kid ourselves that some other newspapers will fill the gap. In no way could they do what we need. For starters, the larger papers do not have serious interest in Eastern Oregon, and they also are in the same financial stress as the EO. Additionally, they are also experiencing contraction — not expanding.

Secondly, the people working at the EO are local people, like us who are readers, and they have dedicated their professional lives to journalism that keeps us informed. They are as concerned about the knowledge and health of our communities as we are — and they’re not strangers. The larger papers don’t have staff who know our area and our needs and interests like the EO staff does.

Editor Andrew noted that because of various factors, especially the closing of so many businesses due to COVID-19 and the lowered revenue from advertising, income to the EO has been radically reduced. Also, the fact that news reporting is now increasingly digitized adds to the problem of printed paper newspapers — and for me, a paper newspaper feels good in my hands and is pleasant to read.

So what can we do about it? First, we all be sure to re-subscribe and additionally we recommend to our friends that they subscribe too. Second, Editor Andrew also has a thought and suggestion in his commentary that we all make a voluntary contribution to “Support Local Journalism.”

Yes, we’ve paid our subscriptions in the ordinary fashion, but this is not a normal time — it is a stress time and extraordinary means are needed. The contribution can be one-time or monthly — and monthly allows for better long-term planning. If we all kick in $10 per month, the equivalent of several cups of coffee, that would give EO management some breathing time to figure out how to keep our local news source running and serving our needs. The circulation is about 4,000 daily, and if we all set up a contribution for these problematic times that would account for some solid support toward keeping the EO up and running.

The direct link on the website for contributions is eastoregonian.com/contribute and then open the “Support Local Journalism” site.

Let’s go for it, friends. The ball is in our court and we can make a difference in keeping our valued news source lively and available for us all. Without it, our local information landscape looks awfully barren.

Do you have a point you’d like to make or an issue you feel strongly about? Submit a letter to the editor or a guest column.