BY BILL SHUMWAY
North Country This Week

Thank you candidates, readers, advertisers, subscribers and letter-writers for supporting North Country This Week and NorthCountryNow.com, allowing us to provide extensive news coverage of the recent elections.

St. Lawrence County elections officials reported historically high voter turnout at the polls for the mid-term elections and we saw a record high level of engagement from our readers and candidates.

From the onset of the political season to the final days, NCTW and NCNow.com published more than 150 letters to the editor. We struggled to run the massive number of candidate endorsements in our Opinion section but were glad to because we believe this is an indication that the community values our efforts.

We appreciate the more than two dozen candidates and supporters who invested their campaign marketing funds in our products. Their investment was vital for us to be able to provide equal news space to candidates in contested elections so their views on key topics could be shared fairly in news stories for our readers.

For subscribers to our online or print editions, please know your support helps fund our newsroom and allows us the privilege of being the go-to news source for St. Lawrence County election news. Your support also helps ensure we can provide year-round coverage of important local government news, community events, and achievements by residents, as well as a true “community forum” on our letters pages.

Many areas of the country are turning into “news deserts” as news organizations struggle to fund newsrooms, leading to massive downsizing and closures. More than 25% of U.S. newspapers have closed since 2005, including 360 since the pandemic began, according to the New York Times.

A 2018 Bloomberg news story highlighted the impact of losing local newspapers.

“When local newspapers shut their doors, communities lose out. People and their stories can’t find coverage. Politicos take liberties when it’s nobody’s job to hold them accountable. What the public doesn’t know winds up hurting them. The city feels poorer, politically and culturally,” the article says.

Local news is important. Thanks to strong support, North Country This Week and NorthCountryNow.com deliver valuable news and information to 80% of St. Lawrence households, often many times each week.

We deeply appreciate your loyalty and are eager to continue to serve St. Lawrence County.

With our sincerest gratitude, we hope you’ll consider becoming a subscriber in the coming year. We will always work to bring you the best news product the community is willing to support.

Bill Shumway is editor and publisher of North Country This Week and NorthCountryNow.com