The Fort Worth Star-Telegram needs your support to continue coronavirus work and more
After more than 30 years in the news business, I am sometimes tempted to say I’ve covered it all.
Blizzards, ice storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes — all those boxes are checked.
But never in my career have I covered a public safety crisis like this. The coronavirus pandemic has affected — and threatened — every person in Fort Worth, Tarrant County and the surrounding region.
While the scale of the coronavirus is different, there is a constant: Every time public safety is at risk, we see a heightened awareness of the role of local journalism.
We’ve certainly seen that in the last four weeks as you’ve looked to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and star-telegram.com for information about the coronavirus and its effects on our daily lives.
As is common under such circumstances, we lifted the meter on star-telegram.com that limits the number of stories a non-subscriber can read. All stories related in any way to the coronavirus have been available to anyone, without restriction (barring a technical glitch here and there).
And we’ve seen a huge response — page views and unique visitors (individual devices that hit our website) are up by the millions over the previous year.
But as the pandemic stretches on, we will make adjustments.
We will continue to make stories critical to your health and safety available to everyone. But some of our coronavirus work will begin to migrate behind the meter, or paywall. Some examples are longer-form accountability and feature reporting, as well as tangential stories about the effects of the coronavirus on our economy.
Survival of local journalism
This is a matter of survival for the Star-Telegram and other local newspapers.
We have taken a significant revenue hit due to the coronavirus on the advertising side, which is reflective of the struggles local businesses face. We have established a free online directory in an attempt to help local businesses communicate with their customers at this difficult time.
You can help us by considering a subscription to star-telegram.com or the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
We know we need to earn that subscription by consistently providing content that is relevant to you. While there is always room for improvement, your response has indicated we’ve done that with stories about the coronavirus.
Web traffic is one indicator. But we’ve also been pleased to see increases in digital subscriptions in the last two weeks, though not to the level we would see with the meter activated.
Hundreds of you have submitted questions to us related to the coronavirus, and we have provided answers. Others have raised concerns about workplace issues and stay-at-home orders that we’ve addressed in stories.
We have raised questions and held leaders accountable — with news stories and editorials — for such things as the inconsistency of executive orders in the DFW region and the lack of information about readiness for a spike in coronavirus cases.
Most of our reporters and editors are working from home to prevent the spread of the virus, but they must still go out in public at times to do their jobs fully — maintaining social distancing. Know that we are committed to doing what is necessary to fulfill our mission.
Consider a subscription
If you already subscribe to the Star-Telegram or star-telegram.com, thank you! You are supporting our work and helping to secure the future of local journalism.
If you don’t subscribe, I ask you to consider doing so. Simply go to star-telegram.com/subscribe.
That said, we realize these are difficult times, when many have lost their jobs. We understand if a subscription is not possible now. You can still support us with “likes,” “shares,” and “re-tweets.”
And, of course, you’ll still have full access to the most critical coronavirus coverage.
Steve Coffman is executive editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and star-telegram.com.
This story was originally published April 7, 2020 at 10:57 AM.
