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Pulitzers don’t grow on trees – YOU have to help them grow!

Today we learned that the Courier-Journal was awarded this year’s Pulitzer Prize for breaking news reporting, in honor of their in-depth, excellent series of stories on Matt Bevin’s last-minute pardons.

First – Congrats!

So first of all, a big Congratulations to the C-J, to their editor Richard Green, and to all their staff, from reporters to the people who run the presses. As my father, a life-long journalist, said when we moved to Louisville (which meant he couldn’t see us as often), “At least you’ll be getting a great newspaper.”

Others have also shared their congratulations, from Rachel Maddow calling it the “best new thing in the world today” on her show, to Congressman John Yarmuth, who founded the Louisville Eccentric Observer (LEO) weekly before being elected to Congress:

Second – this is a Big Deal.

For those of you who may not know, winning a Pulitzer is a gargantuan achievement. Consider all the newspapers across the country; then consider all the stories published in all those newspapers in a year; then finally consider that out of ALL of those stories, only ONE wins a given Pulitzer that year. They don’t fall off trees, and they aren’t given out like candy. You’ve got to earn it, and you’ve got to earn it in a big way.

And, for the C-J, this is a big deal for another reason. In case you haven’t heard, the past few years (or longer) have not been kind to the newspaper industry. Local ownership has left, and mega-corporations have taken over. Higher profit margins are expected; where once 7% was acceptable, now the far-distant corporate owners expect 30% or even higher.

And how do you get those margins? You cut, and cut, and cut. You cut staff, you cut your publishing run, you close offices, you stop covering things. And finally, if nothing else works, you declare bankruptcy, and you disappear.

The fact that Green and his staff have been able to persevere in the face of these challenges, and not only to persevere but to grow and take some new ground, is nothing less than amazing. They have continued to fight the good fight, to dig for the truth, and to put out a quality product. That series of stories on the Bevin pardons is an example of what good local journalism can do.

Finally – you get what you pay for.

News outlets like the Courier-Journal (and the Herald-Leader, and the weekly paper in your small town) have two basic revenue streams: advertising, and subscriptions. If you want to have a strong operation, you have to have both.

But in the face of the pandemic, with so much that is uncertain in the economy, advertising is down. Who’s going to spend money on advertising today if you’re not sure you’re going to be in business tomorrow? Every outlet that relies on advertising is hurting. Throw in the fact that Facebook and Google had already sucked off a huge percentage of the advertising dollars out there, and you can see how dire the situation is right now.

So, in the end, it comes down to you and me. Do we want good, local, professional journalism in our town and in our state? Do we want reporters that have the time and the chops to dig out the stories that elected officials and corporate executives want hidden? Or, are we satisfied with our local news outlets degrading into nothing more than copy machines, running whatever press releases they get because that’s all they have time and staff for?

I subscribe to both the Courier-Journal and the Herald-Leader, because I want them both to survive. I donate to our local public media outlet, because I want the KY Center for Investigative Reporting to keep doing their work. And, I even subscribe to some national outlets, for all the same reasons.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we put up a page on our site called The Subscriptions and Memberships Page. On that page we included links to a number of media outlets, including the C-J and the H-L. We pushed that page for a while, and some people used it to subscribe.

Now it’s time to push it again. Just as we are seeing the value of good government during this pandemic, we are also seeing the value of good journalism and reliable information. We NEED these outlets to survive and to thrive.

So GO to the page, and when you get there, SUBSCRIBE! Subscribe to more than one outlet, if you can afford it. Support the media who support you with the truth and the information you need. DO IT NOW!

Remember, Pulitzers don’t grow on trees – they grow when citizens support their local media. Join me in doing that – become a subscriber.

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