After our sales staff was poached, we need a button like this. (City-Times photo)

City-Times Staff

A few weeks ago, City-Times staff members asked for your help. We’re very grateful to all who gave us a little push in the right direction- you know who you are!

Our goal at the beginning of this great media experiment was to offer what we like to call “meat & potatoes journalism”: the best in ultra- local, unbiased online news and all for free to our readers. It’s a service no one else in the county can offer, and we’re very proud to be the first.

But no good deed goes unpunished.

Readership at the City-Times has exploded over the past several weeks as word of our publication spread throughout the community. With increased readership comes increased cost: higher demand for additional coverage means more reporters and additional hardware for our office.

But just as this increase in readership prompted these new expenses, our small sales staff was unscrupulously poached by another company. We’ve recently hired some new blood to fill the void, but training takes time, and news salespeople means starting any relationship with potential advertisers from scratch.

As our sales staff was being pulled from under us, we had already (temporarily) lowered our advertising rates to help local businesses through current tough economic times.

Implementing subscriptions is not a part of our business plan. We don’t believe people should have to pay to get their news- and we’ve seen plenty of examples how installing a pay wall on a website will upset readers faster than anything. And we’re not in the business of creating animosity.

But we still have costs like any other media site: servers, power, programs, and staff. We get emails all the time from you, our readers, telling us how special the City-Times is; like a public library or community park, we serve our community with no bias or affiliation.

Frankly, if only half our readers would donate $20, all our revenue needs would be met for a few months. It’s that simple.

So give us a hand to keep the City-Times a free public service. In these tough times, we’ve got to stick together.

Thank you.