This issue marks beginning of 18^th year of publishing GwinnettForum

By Elliott Brack
Editor and publisher, GwinnettForum

APRIL 3, 2018  |  Today’s issue of GwinnettForum marks the beginning of our 18^th year in business.

I retired from the Atlanta newspapers on April 1, and opened the next day an office in a friend’s extra space in Business Park in Norcross. A couple of years later, we moved offices to the former headquarters of Technology Park/Atlanta, then in unincorporated Norcross and now in Peachtree Corners. We’ve been here for 15 years.

The whole idea of GwinnettForum was to keep me active in retirement. I had known of many friends who retired, did little, and soon were dead.  But it’s worked now for me for 17 years!

When opening the GwinnettForum, I had no idea if my business model would be successful, and if we would find enough underwriters to keep it alive. I thought I had enough credibility in Gwinnett so that businesses would support this effort. And it worked. Some say this was among the first to monetize the Internet (www.gwinnettforum.com.)

This may sound unreasonable to some, but I have never taken one penny of salary out of this operation. I use the funds that support GwinnettForum to pay our bills for office rent, internet and other routine operational expenses.

I’m grateful for those firms which help fund this operation, since it keeps an independent media voice ongoing in Gwinnett. You know that there are few media voices here these days, and some are not now what they once were.

Some refer to GwinnettForum as a newspaper without the newsprint. We’re not that, for we don’t seek to cover the waterfront. However, we do seek to provide a forum for public opinion. For something to get in GwinnettForum, it must get past me…..and therefore let’s call it a “moderated forum,” not a blog. I’m the one responsible for “moderating” each issue, and yes, I read (carefully) every word.

One of the best parts of publishing GwinnettForum comes each political season. About 10 years ago, the major newspaper in the region stopped endorsing candidates. It made me livid for about a week, for we think newspapers know certain information about candidates, and have the responsibility of telling their readers about these potential leaders, about which is best, through endorsements.

After being mad for a week, I realized that since many think of this publication as something like a newspaper, we could interview candidates and endorse the best of the lot. We had no idea if it would work. So we asked the opposed candidates in Gwinnett, and statewide opposed candidates, to spend 30 minutes with us, so we could discern which was the best candidate for our readers to vote for.

The candidates earn something by visiting with us. We ask those who visit with us to answer, in 100 words each, six questions. Without us editing them at all, we put their answers on our web site at no cost to the candidates about three weeks before an election. That way the candidate gets to talk directly to the readers…..but only AFTER spending 30 minutes with me. That’s the way the candidate “pays” (with his visit) to get on our web site. He can’t buy that in dollars.

So today we are in the midst of listening to candidates. So far we’ve seen 39 candidates, have 11 more scheduled, and haven’t yet talked to 49 before the May 22 primary.  We still have a long way to go.

But it’s fun. We’ll have our endorsements and candidate answers out May 1.

That’s beginning our 18^th year.

• Have a comment? Send to:  elliott@brack.net