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Thanks to
our readers
After 18 years of remaining at 50 cents a copy,
the Rappahannock News will be raising the single
issue price to 75 cents on May 7. Annual subscription rates will also rise from $21 to $34.32 per year.
We don’t like this, not at this point in time, when everyone is having to get by with less. Who needs another expense to go up?
Major newspapers across the country have been folding left and right, many having operated at losses over the past few years as they compete with new sources for news whose bottom line costs were so much lower few could compete.
Community newspapers, however, have hung on. There is a much more intimate bond between the readers and the papers. Often, these newspapers are the primary source of news and information for those ilT a particular community.
Community newspapers serve as clearinghouses for information, report relevant local news and keep an eye on local governments all of which would leave big gaps in community life were these newspapers gone.
We can say that our family of papers has already made deep cuts - people have lost their jobs, others have had to cut back hours — and like everyone else, our expenses seem to cost more for the same or less.
Few other commodities or services can say that rates have not increased in 18 years. Publishing is not known to be a big profit making enterprise. It is a service, and a necessary one, that the nation’s founders chose to set apart from government with the intent that the press remain free.
That tradition has held up for over 200 years, but it doesn’t relieve the burden of keeping up with the cost to provide the service. , The increase allows us to break even, and that’s about all we can say other than we hope our readers will understand and that $13.32 extra per year is something they are willing to bear. Our thanks to our readers and may we all recover to better times soon.
Letters to the editor
The Rappahannock News welcomes Letters to the Editor from its readers as a forum for discussion of local public affairs subjects.
WRITE: Letters to the Editor. P.O. Box 59, Washington, Va. 22747
EMAIL: mkuhn@timespapers.com
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