The future of the Eudora Times

BY TERI FINNEMAN

Throughout my time as publisher of The Eudora Times, I’ve been transparent about our operations and our precarious financial position. I have additional updates for you now on that front.

Without significant change in community support, The Eudora Times will not make it beyond May. To date, about 18 months since we’ve launched, we’ve brought in $3,400 in donations.

We’re so grateful to the community members who have supported us. But no business, not even one run by a publisher who takes zero income and four college students willing to accept little or no income, can survive with those kinds of finances.

The pandemic has certainly not helped since we haven’t been able to host events in the community as we’d hoped and, for safety reasons, have primarily had to do our work from a distance.

We know that 1,300 people have visited our site in the last month. We know that we have a strong, small group of supporters who like to read about their community regularly.

But the financial situation is already having an impact. When I have no money to pay reporters for their time, it’s hard to attract help. That then impacts how much coverage we’re able to provide.

It’s certainly not a unique issue to us. We know readers want to see more content in newspapers to feel like they’re getting their money’s worth before they subscribe or donate. We know we aren’t publishing as much content as we wish we were.

But without the resources to do so first, it’s impossible to increase our staffing and content.

It’s certainly a disappointment for our staff, which remains as committed as ever to community journalism and its importance. But, like any other business, if consumer support isn’t there, all of the hope and passion in the world can’t change the bottom line.

Here’s how things look going forward:

To start, we will go dark from Dec. 11 to Jan. 11 while KU is on winter break, and our students return home for several weeks.

We’re committed to returning in January with Lucie Krisman, your longtime City Hall reporter, taking on additional duties as editor following the graduation of current editor Sydney Hoover.

We look forward to some great coverage in early 2021 from our small but committed team.

But the outlook is bleak after May.

This isn’t to say The Eudora Times would end forever in May. It’s possible stories could appear every now or then, or the newspaper could become more active down the road if a better solution comes along for maintaining an active team and presence.

But as our staff size continues to shrink, we must be realistic with ourselves and with you. If Eudora wants a community newspaper to continue, donations are the only way to make that happen.

To donate to support our community journalism, please go to this link: tinyurl.com/y4u7stxj