Galveston paper uses in-house ads to ask readers to get involved
The Galveston County Daily News is running a series of ads calling on its readers to contact the governor, their U.S. Senators and U.S. Representative to help fight the newsprint tariff that is being imposed on newspapers across the country.
And, in an editorial published at the end of March, the paper's editorial board outlined how these tariffs will hurt readers. "Newspapers are vital to the communities they serve. Everyone relies on a newspaper to tell the local stories, both good and bad. We report on city and county governments, schools, crime, sports, weddings, anniversaries, births and obituaries.
"Nobody else reports on our community with the depth and breadth of this newspaper – but it's not an easy business, and these tariffs will make it even harder."
In a recent news article, The Daily News noted that newspapers across the country are finding supplies short and prices spiking.
To meet these challenges, the paper told readers that they may start noticing a few changes "to navigate this period of great disruption."
The article notes: "A few items you may notice include a reduction in pages in an effort to conserve newsprint supplies. Also, you may notice features or sections occasionally moving to different locations throughout the newspaper. Additionally, certain daily features may appear with a different frequency. In the end, however, the key and core items will remain as before.
"Please know we will be making decisions with the goal of protecting our commitment to deliver the best locally generated news and information to subscribers and readers. Some changes may be more evident than others, but we hope in balance you will continue to both subscribe and read The Daily News. Your support is as important now as ever."
Print ads call for reader involvement
The ads pictured at the top of this article call on readers to get involved.
For example, the "Goliath" ad runs with the following text:
"Your local newspaper is facing a challenge of historic proportions – a Goliath one, so to say.
"Recently, a single, powerful lobbyist was able to place a punitive and high-impact newsprint tariff at the feet of the U.S. Commerce department. Other newsprint companies rejected the proposal as did newspapers, both large and small, across the nation. Today, as the proposal is in the early stages, newsprint supply and prices are in massive disruption and threatening the livelihoods of thousands of small to medium newspapers that populate America's communities. We ask you to get involved. Reach out to your local U.S. legislators, write letters and send emails to help protect not only your local newspaper, but you and your community.
"Join the fight – and don't let your local newspaper be defeated by this Goliath."
The ad then notes that the International Trade Commission has the authority to prevent these tariffs. And, it asks readers to contact their government officials with a request to ask the ITC to reject these tariffs.
Download the full ads:
Keywords
Galveston, newsprint, tariffs
