By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
APRIL 26, 2019 | Remembering back to 1974, as I moved here to join Gwinnett Daily News, I wondered how in the world a newspaper would cover a county with 100,000 people. It seemed nigh impossible.
Yet the newspaper I joined, Gwinnett Daily News, was becoming a really excellent newspaper. You covered a county by developing a hard-working and innovative staff for news and advertising, and delivered the paper on time. Over the years, let me say that we became really good, winning award-after-award over much larger newspapers. It took a solid budget, good management and a soundly-profitable newspaper to fund the operation.
Here’s how successful it was: The New York Times bought that newspaper for $100 million. That company operated Gwinnett Daily News for five years, lost $1 million a month, and finally left the county without its own daily newspaper.
While there have been successor newspapers, none have approached what the Daily News achieved. Today the Gwinnett Daily Post is down to three days a week. And the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, we understand, has only two full-time reporters covering the 950,000 people in Gwinnett.
The Atlanta newspaper reminds me of the way it operated in the 1965-1988 era: when significant news broke, they ran out here from downtown, asked Daily News reporters what was going on, wrote a story for the next day, and usually dropped the story after that.
Now the big question: Does it bug you that we live in a county with nearly a million people, but have very little significant news coverage?
Neither newspapers, nor television, nor significant social media, really “covers” Gwinnett County.
That brings me to GwinnettForum. When we started this “moderated public forum” in 2001, we were seeking to stimulate thought, produce innovation and create a space where people would talk to one another.
We were surprised from the very first that stories came to us “over the transom,” from a varied cast of individuals. We published twice weekly, providing space for others to write 500 words about a subject of their choice, and I contributed 500 words on a variety of subjects. Soon letters to the editor started arriving, and we added other features, such as Another Voice (opinion), upcoming events, a book (or movie etc.) recommendation, an excerpt from the Georgia Encyclopedia, a calendar, a Lagniappe, and the latest, a Mystery Photo. We seek to apply high journalistic and ethical standards to what we produce.
Some people even called the Forum a “newspaper without newsprint.” Ten years ago, we began endorsing political candidates, after seeking to vet the many candidates. (That’s a job!)
While our efforts have been successful, we haven’t used this vehicle to pay myself the first salary. We did it to extend my life…..and now in our 19th year, that part has worked well.
However, GwinnettForum needs a stronger “reach.” One internet person thinks that with the people “subscribing” online (for free), plus those who read us from the Internet, we have about 10,000 unique readers. But in this big county, that’s not a lot.
So, with all this said, may I ask you readers? Help us. Please today recommend us to at least one friend, asking that they go to www.gwinnettforum.com, and on the right side of the page, put in their email address in the subscription form. That way we’ll start sending them GwinnettForum and extend our readership one-by-one. Who knows? We might find a new regular contributor who will enrich all of us with their thoughts on varied local issues.
Can each of you do that, ask others to join those reading GwinnettForum?
We’ll thank you for your support.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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