Photo Credit: 802 via Flickr
Here’s some good news. Will Baker, top dog at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, recently published an optimistic Op-Ed in the Baltimore Sun, titled “A New Day for the Bay.” Yeah! In his piece (generously sprinkled with words that work), Baker wrote:
CBF and its partners have successfully championed new investments in farm conservation practices. At the federal level, an unprecedented $440 million has recently been approved for agricultural conservation practices to reduce pollution in the Chesapeake Bay region over the next five years. When matched with state and farmer dollars, and with other programs and funding in place, this could achieve almost two-thirds of the region’s nitrogen pollution reduction goal.
So here’s the bad news: Placing the Op Ed in the Sun is a much smaller success than it would have been just a few years ago. In fact, Baltimore Sun circulation and ad revenue are slumping so badly that the paper recently announced it will cut 100 jobs — mostly from the newsroom. This is a desperation move for the Sun — laying off journalists will almost certainly lead to further losses in circulation and ad revenue.
When the Baltimore Sun is gone, how will CBF send a message to citizens around the Bay to stay the course, because their efforts are making a difference, and these investments will pay off with a cleaner, healthier bay for future generations to enjoy?
And by the way, how’s your local newspaper doing?
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We just lost one of our two daily papers here in Madison, WI. Apparently, it’s a nationwide trend, esp. as the younger crowd (hey, when did I turn “old”?!?) relies more on electronic sources for news, entertainment and connections.
The Capital Times remains online, but too early to tell how that is going to pan out.
We’ve made many changes to our website (and still have many changes more to implement) and are working with online magazines, calendars and such to notice our events. We also use listservs extensively.
We still send press releases to the printed papers, esp. the weeklies, but the articles the weeklies print tend to be specific to that paper’s circulation and not the stuff that applies to the region. We also send articles to municipal newsletters. It depends on who the target audience is, of course.
What is everyone else doing?