With local news and fact-based journalism at a crossroads during this election year, let’s start by putting to rest rumors about the Claremont Courier’s future: the Courier is not going anywhere, not going out of business, and not laying anyone off.

There are two equal reasons why the Courier can and will survive any dramatic changes in the economics of the news industry.

One, our readers and supporters. There are simply too many people who understand the Courier’s contributions to Claremont who are willing to help us remain financially healthy.

Two, the Courier remains a family operated business (our foundation owns the business) and we will not let it flounder. That not only includes the Weinberger family and Courier staff members, but a committed board of directors of John Nieuber, Valerie Martinez, Mary Weis, and Riley Lewis. The future may include increasing the board’s size to solidify our bench support. We have numerous plans through 2025 which we will make public shortly.

Next steps
Being committed to remain in business doesn’t mean there’s not a lot of hard work to be done. I was forced to make two very difficult decisions in moving the Courier to the Garner House and a much smaller office space, and the heart wrenching layoff of a longtime employee. These moves along with other cost cutting measures will save us about $100,000 through 2024. With a smaller staff, all our energy has been focused on continuing to publish award-winning, fact-based journalism.

Other plans for 2024 include a community outreach event, “Sip & Socialize,” on September 27 at Garner. It will be in part a thank you to our incredible supporters, and part a fundraising event to partially finance the hiring of a new reporter. The Courier has other needs too, like partnering with a company to manage our subscriptions and transactions, plus marketing and nonprofit management help. And, starting in 2025, I will reduce my salary to $1 per year. This will have no impact on my publisher duties.

You will hear more specifics about what is happening with the Courier as we get closer to our fall event. In the meantime, our annual Almanac is currently in production, we have already sold nearly $10,000 in advertising for our September education special edition, “from ABCs to Ph.D.s,” and plans for our October Village Venture special edition are in the works. The publishing never stops!

How you can help
The Courier is a unique nonprofit since the IRS doesn’t want to stop us from selling advertising. We pay taxes on this revenue, which is critical to keep the Courier in business. Our subscriptions  and donations are nonprofit revenue, a stream we hope will one day reach 50% of our total revenue.

Just like other nonprofits, we simply cannot meet expenses and stay in business through donations alone. Last year, donations reached 15% of our revenue. Our immediate goal is to reach 25% with the addition of more promotion and grants.

Our September 27 event is our only fundraiser of the year. It will be critical in meeting expenses and making gains after the past year’s cuts. The biggest impact on quality content is the people we hire as staff members. We use interns every year, but it’s paid staff who make the difference in our ability to produce 20-25 stories every week, dozens of photos, video, update a daily website, two newsletters, and our social media feeds.

My daughter Collette was married last weekend. She made a statement at the wedding that is so very applicable to how I feel about our readers and supporters who continue to help us year after year: “Words cannot express the way I feel about the love and support from the people so close to us.” Your support really does make a difference. More than you may think. And for all that, we at the Courier thank you!

Update on California journalism legislation
There’s been a tidal wave of information statewide as the media industry continues to shrink, while legislation to help has only weeks left in the current session to pass. In fact, California is at the center of these issues, as not one but two pieces of legislation are aimed at diverting hundreds of millions of dollars toward journalism, much of it locally based.

Given this year’s legislative session ends August 31, there has been a flurry of activity to pass one of two bills, AB 886 (the California Journalism Protection Act), and SB 1327. I’ve talked about the impact of these bills before. If passed, they would mark a huge step in making big tech platforms like Google, Meta (Facebook), and X pay for the stories they use to supplement their own news feeds. These feeds generate huge profits on the backs of content providers, including the Claremont Courier.

Our future
It’s hard to say how long print newspapers will be around, but the Courier’s print edition is still going strong. We have no reason to stop publishing a print edition. So even as other print newspapers are going out of business, the Courier will stand strong. The Claremont community has proven time and time again it is more than willing to pitch in and support others, including the Courier. It’s also home to an active and growing senior community that has always been critical to our success.

I believe if we continue to work together and take active roles in supporting each other, there’s nothing that can stop us, now or later!