Instead, the “official newspaper of the State of
Jefferson” that was founded in 1972 will distribute news
with a few flicks of the thumb and clicks of a computer
mouse.
The Press published its last physically printed edition
on June 9. But Publisher/Editor Daniel Webster and two
staff members will continue to cover newsworthy events
and share the news with residents via text message and
e-mail.
Webster told his subscribers in a letter – the final
batch of which he said should be in mailboxes today or
early next week – that the news they cover is now
available only by subscription.
“I believe the news we produce is worth 50 cents a week
– give or take a quarter or two given the week’s
headlines and opinions,” Webster said in the letter.
Thus, subscriptions to the new version of the Press are
now $2 a month.
In an interview Thursday, Webster said the response to
the news has been overwhelmingly supportive, with many
of his subscribers sending their e-mail address or phone
number to sign up for the new service.
“My subscribers and my readers have been probably the
most loyal of any media readers in Siskiyou County,” he
said. “I have intensely loyal subscribers. They have, en
masse, stuck with us and signed up. It’s been a real
encouraging couple of days.”
Webster said that was a good feeling after he had to
make the “sad” decision to cut his losses.
In the letter to subscribers, Webster said the paper was
“bleeding cash every week we publish – some weeks
thousands of dollars.”
He told the Daily News that if he had printed an edition
on June 16, he would have lost another $2,100.
Webster filed for bankruptcy over a year ago.
“This wasn’t a matter of a bank issue. The bankruptcy
was hoping to save the Pioneer Press and get ‘The
Project’ launched. The timing was wise to cut the print
edition now,” he said. “It’s a choice that every single
newspaper will have to make at some point in time. It is
no longer a financially viable business. For some it is
right now, but at some point it won’t be.”
Webster isn’t releasing much information about “The
Project” to which he referred. In his letter, he tells
subscribers that it is something he has been working to
bring to life for the past several months after
considering solutions for the high costs associated with
print media.
He began really thinking about the future of his paper
when he attended a Consumer Electronics Show at which
Bill Gates gave a keynote address. As he explained what
the future of technology would look like, “Nowhere in
the picture did I see the little Pioneer Press fitting
in. I knew we would have to reinvent ourselves in order
to survive,” Webster said.
He said he has had “enough brilliant minds ... confirm
the legitimacy of ‘The Project,’ such that I will not
quit until I see it launched.”
He refers to “The Project” as a “worldwide news project”
that will bring people their news by phone, television
and computers.
“At the moment of launch, we will be instantly
delivering your news – the news you want – via the
technology you use,” Webster said in his letter.
He told the Daily News that “no soul won’t know we’re
launching” about a month before it happens.
“Everything will change at that point,” he said. “It
will be a whole different ball game.”
He goes on in the letter to say, “I believe it will
build back up our local economy, enrich our lives with
the connectivity we want, all the while bringing us
together and empowering us as a community.”
With no concrete details about “The Project,” there’s no
way of telling if any other publication is trying or has
tried something similar. But entities like Fox News and
the New York Times do offer news via text message and
e-mail.
While delivering news that way just won’t be the same,
Webster said he looks forward to what’s ahead.
“There is a romance, a feeling you get when you read a
physical newspaper,” he said. “I feel that, and that’s
one reason I love print. I don’t get that romance from
reading an e-mail. I’m hopeful that, at some point in
time, that feeling comes about when I read an e-mail.”
He continued in the letter regarding “The Project”: “I
can’t wait for this moment in time, and it will be a joy
to share it with you.”
Webster said that all the employees he had to lay off
know that once “The Project” is going they will have
assignments available to them if they are still in need
of a job.
An important piece of the puzzle for people in the
community to realize, Webster said, is that without the
support of advertisers, subscriptions to the Pioneer
Press would have been $150 a year.
“So if people want to keep the Siskiyou Daily News print
edition alive, the advertisers in this community must be
getting behind you and sticking with you,” he said.
In the end, Webster said he doesn’t want to see any
print editions cease, and he is especially emotional
about his own having to stop distribution.
“I am probably one of the most heartbroken about the
decision; I wish it could be otherwise,” he said. “It
makes me very sad, but the decision was so right that
I had to deal with the facts.”
He outlined those facts in his letter:
“Sometimes it’s healthy for institutions to be torn all
the way down before they can be rebuilt,” he told
subscribers. “The way I see it, I had to quit the print
edition in order to save the whole kit and caboodle, so
that I ultimately could not quit on you, the Pioneer
Press and delivering the news that matters most to you.”
For more information about receiving news by text or
e-mail, write to Pioneer Press, P.O. Box 400, Fort
Jones, CA 96032 or pioneerp@sisqtel.net.
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NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section
107, any copyrighted
material herein is distributed without profit or
payment to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this
information for non-profit
research and educational purposes only. For more
information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
