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Nine days after the Sept. 11 attacks rattled us all to the core, there was only one person in the United States crazy (or stupid) enough to start a newspaper.
It was me.
I wasn’t exactly planning it that way, of course, but the momentum of five months of intensive preparation building toward that specific date in time – Sept. 20, 2001 – meant there was no turning back. My team of three and I managed to focus our energies despite the worrisome swirl of uncertain national and economic securities and publish the inaugural edition of the Henrico Citizen.
A framed copy of its front page – with the image I snapped of a lone American flag flapping in the breeze on Monument Avenue, in tribute to 9/11 victims – hangs in my Lakeside office, yellowing a bit but overall not much worse for the wear. Were it a child of mine, it likely would have been set to graduate from high school in a couple months – plans that, ironically, would have been thrown into disarray by the most significant challenge we’ve faced as a nation since 9/11.
I haven’t seen much of that page in the past month, because like most of us, I’ve been working from home – a term I use loosely because my two actual children (ages six and one) do a pretty good job attempting to divert my attention.
The world has changed in so many ways in just a month. Today, as a nation, we face a conflux of crises – different from 9/11 in many ways, similar in others. The COVID-19 pandemic has scared and confused us, caused us angst and frustration, and generally thrown us off our normal routines with all the subtlety of a flank-strapped bull violently bucking its rider skyward.
It’s threatened to wreck the economic foundation not just of our nation but of nations worldwide. It’s sending some among us into downward spirals emotionally, mentally and physically. We’re separated from our extended family members, friends and jobs. Life is not normal.
It’s a lot to digest. Many of us are still struggling to figure out how we can possibly work anything close to a full nine-hour day (or longer) from home and protect ourselves and our families from the virus and associated economic uncertainties, all while suddenly homeschooling our children to boot. And I thought newspaper deadline nights were rough.
But consider this – we’re the lucky ones. Many in our community don’t have jobs anymore. Just like that, they’re gone. A January Nielsen study found that one in four American families with annual earnings of $150,000 or more is living paycheck-to-paycheck. With that in mind, imagine how everyone else is doing. It’s not a pretty picture.
At the Henrico Citizen, we’ve been affected like many other small businesses. Our March 19 print edition featured the largest typeface headline in our history: “Normalcy no more.” And it was right. We halted publication of the print edition two weeks later for the first time in our history.
Printing a paper doesn’t seem like the brightest idea when most of us are not going out – and when many of our distribution spots are closed. Losing two of our three largest advertisers – whose businesses are being impacted by the pandemic, just as mine is – didn’t help, either.
Our evolving reach – and how you can help sustain it
But I like to think that challenging times can bring out the best in people. It doesn’t always work that way, I’ll admit, but give us a chance in America – and in Henrico – to adapt to our new normal, and then watch out.
My tiny team and I have done our best to take that idea to heart. In the past month, we’ve done all we know how to cover the pandemic from as many Henrico angles as possible, shifting exclusively to the variety of digital platforms we’ve worked hard to build in recent years. We’ve reported in in-depth fashion about how the virus has impacted Henrico’s budget, its restaurants, its school system, its school redistricting plans, its youth sports leagues, its nonprofits, its home improvement businesses and unfortunately its nursing homes, among many other topics. We’ve written about how community organizations have responded to the crisis, and how the community has supported them in return.
We’ve covered Gov. Northam’s regular press conferences, Henrico supervisors’ online town hall meetings, School Board and Board of Supervisors meetings, digested state and local data to find meaningful takeaways, submitted Freedom of Information Act requests in search of more, and worked diligently to inform readers accurately, in a timely fashion, with the perspective that comes from a two-person newsroom with nearly 50 years of experience covering this county.
We’ve posted more than 100 articles on HenricoCitizen.com during the past month, and I compile, host and produce a daily weekday podcast – the Henrico News Minute – that features an easily digestible look at the day-to-day news that matters to Henricoans (and these days often is recorded from the floor of my Varina home while a toddler tries valiantly to interrupt). We reach nearly 12,000 people each weekday with our Henrico Newsflash email updates. We post frequently every day on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We are doing everything we know how to reach as many Henrico citizens as we possibly can.
We’ve also reached out to the small businesses and nonprofits that make our community such a wonderful place to be. We provided 10 free digital advertising packages of two months apiece (a total value of about $14,000) to Henrico businesses of 25 employees or less. We are providing free advertising for local nonprofits each time someone contributes at least $15 to our local journalism efforts. For each month of digital advertising a client purchases with us, we are providing a free month to the nonprofit of that client’s choice.
I believe in what we have done and in what we are doing in and for our community. I’m proud to be a Henrico citizen. I chose our name purposefully almost 19 years ago. A chief purpose of a community newspaper or community news organization ought to be to connect the community it serves – to give those who read it a sense of place and belonging. To those of you reading, this is our place, together, as citizens of Henrico.
The work we do here, I believe, is important. No, we aren’t saving lives like the medical and public safety heroes in our hospitals. We aren’t transporting vital goods, like the truck drivers who live and work here. We aren’t keeping shelves stocked with essential items, like the grocery store and drug store employees risking their own health daily are. We aren’t tasked with adjusting county budget numbers on the fly to protect and serve 330,000 citizens without cutting any jobs.
But we are reporting about all of those people – so that you know about them. So that you know about your community. So that you can see it for all that it is – inspiring, challenging, frustrating, rewarding and many things in between. We’re doing so with a staff of just myself and three others who are as dedicated to our mission as any could be. It’s challenging and stressful and financially trying, and it always has been. But this is what we love doing, and I’ll be damned if we stop doing it now. We are more determined than ever before to rise to this challenge and provide our readers with the type of coverage they deserve.
This pandemic is threatening many aspects of our lives, and my business is no more important than any of them. But if you value what we do and are compelled – and feel able – to contribute to our ongoing efforts to produce daily, meaningful journalism for Henrico citizens, my staff and I would welcome your donations with gratitude and pride.
Today, we are proud to announce a partnership with the Local Media Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, through which you may make tax-deductible donations to the Henrico Citizen.
***Click here to do so if you so choose.***
If the tax-deductible aspect isn’t important to you, you may still contribute directly to us here. And whether you donate or not, please always feel free to e-mail me with your thoughts, ideas or concerns at tom@henricocitizen.com.
Every dollar you donate will be used to fund our news-gathering efforts. My staff and I are working long and unusual hours from home, as many people are, and we have far more potential stories to write than journalists to write them. We want to expand our team and our coverage, and your donations will help us do so.
Thank you, always, for your readership.
