Mike Wolanin | The Republic A view of The Republic newsroom in Columbus, Ind., Friday, April 1, 2022.
Today, The Republic embarks on its newest challenge in more than 150 years, pivoting to a digital first online platform and reorganizing its print publication to two days a week.
For all those on Team Print, I hear you, and I understand your pain.
I am right there with you as a print newspaper subscriber for all of my life. And I have been writing for a print newspaper since I was in high school in the 1970s. I have a full 7-day a week print subscription to the Republic, along with an online subscription, and I pay for both – and I also help deliver a paper to an older neighbor whose carrier sometimes doesn’t get the paper delivered at her doorstep.
For those of you who think this pivot to online isn’t difficult for the editors and reporters at The Republic, you would be mistaken. We too are having to take a moment to adjust, recalibrate and position ourselves to report the news on an internet platform in new ways.
It’s important to remember that The Republic is no longer just printed pages wrapped up with a rubber band. While that has been our method of delivery, our actual job is to gather and report the community news, in print or online.
We have been posting stories, videos, photo galleries and more online for years now and have received awards for our website. Subscribers to our website are global, as many of our far-flung businesses have employees all around the world who are keeping up with Columbus news at therepublic.com.
Some people have exclaimed that the news production should be “free” to the community and subscriptions should not be required. Newspaper reporters and editors write and edit the news of the community, and we can’t work for free. That goes for the advertising salesman, the paper carriers, the designers who create the print pages and the print ads. We are a business that pays its employees for their work.
And that work is paid for through subscriptions (online and print), paid advertising in print and on the website and through commercial printing projects and specialty publications.
Aim Media Indiana is not eliminating any jobs with this change. Although moving to only two print publications a week remains a tough decision, it is the only viable option to keep a community newspaper operating in today’s challenging economic environment.
And today, Team Print, I have to tell you that more of our subscribers are reading our news on our website on smartphones compared to those who are reading it on newsprint. That trend was a gradual one for Columbus but now it is here.
The time to pivot to online first is now, not only to save costs, but to continue providing valued, trusted news content at a time when it is needed more than ever before in the history of our country and in the history of our county.
Our reporters are the only ones reporting on the council meetings, court hearings, school board meetings, press conferences and at the sporting events in Bartholomew County. We are asking the tough questions about the community’s water quality, how elected officials are voting on zoning issues, explaining who is on the ballot for elections and yes, previewing special events in the community such as Exhibit Columbus and the Our Hospice concert. We bring you the information you cannot obtain elsewhere. And now, it will arrive more quickly online instead of waiting until the next morning’s newspaper.
We have been reaching out to the segments of the community serving older residents, who have been the most vocal about concerns accessing online content at therepublic.com. We have had sessions at Mill Race Center and are planning public sessions at the library to invite those who are concerned about this change to learn more about it and how to navigate reading The Republic online.
And we are here at [email protected] or 812-379-5601 to walk you through how to log in to the website, how to stay logged in, and to answer questions about where content is on the site and how to access it.
We are committed to giving you more news with this new schedule and have already added breaking news from the AP wire for international, national, state news and sports to the website. The reason for this is that many international and national news stories have an impact on Columbus and Bartholomew County.
As we move forward, many of the features you know and enjoy in the print edition will remain in the Wednesday and Saturday editions.
For example, Classrooms pages will appear on Wednesday and the TV book and Sunday comics will be inserted into Saturday’s weekend edition. The business and lifestyle pages will be in the Saturday edition along with the religion section.
We will continue to have comics and puzzles online in the e-edition at therepublic.com, seven days a week.
News and sports stories will be published online throughout the day and evenings on the non-print days for The Republic.
So as we move forward, we ask for your continued support. And I encourage you, if you haven’t yet, to visit therepublic.com to take a look around. It’s the future of news coverage in our community and we want you there with us.
