Dear reader: The Fort Worth Star-Telegram needs your help
The coronavirus pandemic jumped to a new level of reality in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram newsroom on a specific day: March 10.
That evening, we learned one of our colleagues may have been exposed to the virus at a conference in Louisiana. Our colleague had been back in the office for two days after returning from the conference.
That week, we began what is now commonplace: Working from home. The only place our newsroom has been together since then has been on Google Meet.
Thankfully, our colleague showed no symptoms of the virus after a 14-day quarantine.
But as it has for you, the coronavirus has brought challenges we couldn’t have imagined three months ago.
Our business, already on wobbly financial legs along with the rest of the newspaper industry, took another revenue punch, reflective of the hit taken by many businesses in the Fort Worth area.
This scenario has resulted in pay cuts, furloughs and layoffs at newspapers across the country. And it has happened when the work we do is needed most.
Our mission is to produce news and information that is relevant to your lives in Fort Worth, Tarrant County and beyond. Online, your readership tells us that — while there is still plenty of room for improvement — we have succeeded amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Readership on star-telegram.com was up 79 percent in March compared to March of 2019. It was up 52 percent in April.
Our goal has been to share breaking news, answer questions you may have, dig deep into local challenges and ask the hard questions of public leadership, holding them accountable. Hopefully you have seen evidence of that and see the value of local journalism amid a story like no other.
Which leads to my unprecedented request: If you are able, I ask for your help so we can continue to fulfill our mission at this level.
Although our friends in other departments at the Star-Telegram have been impacted, newsrooms across McClatchy, our parent company, have not seen the painful cost-cutting measures taken by other newspaper companies due to the coronavirus.
But the threat is real. Like many of you, our reporters, videographers and editors are worried about their health and their livelihoods, even as they often venture into public spaces to do their jobs (as safely as possible).
We have partnered with the nonprofit Local Media Foundation, which will accept your tax-deductible donations to help offset revenue losses and fund newsroom operations to cover the coronavirus and our community’s recovery.
You may donate to our COVID-19 Local News Fund at givebutter.com/star-telegram. Or send checks made out to the Local Media Foundation to COVID-19 Local News Fund, ℅ Local Media Foundation, P.O. Box 85015, Chicago, IL 60689-5015, with Fort Worth Star-Telegram in the memo field.
Your gift will help us continue to tell Fort Worth’s unique coronavirus story. It will allow us to continue to hold leaders accountable for how they conduct your business and work to keep us safe. It also will allow us to continue to tell the inspiring stories of survival while not losing sight of the tragic stories of loss.
Our goal is to raise $120,000 that will be put toward newsroom operational expenses for coronavirus coverage.
We had a soft launch of this campaign on our website this week and raised $1,000 in a day. Donors left messages like this:
Thank you for your hard work and for keeping us informed during this crisis!
In support of good local journalism!
Keep up the vital work!
One couple gave in honor of their daughter, a nurse at a local hospital, and all healthcare workers and first responders nationwide.
If you’re not already a subscriber, that is another important way you can help sustain our work. Thank you to those who already subscribe — we appreciate you. If you’d like to start a subscription, go to star-telegram.com/subscribe.
We realize we are not the only ones facing challenges, and we understand that now may not be the time for you to subscribe or donate.
But if you can subscribe, give, or do both, know that your support will make a difference and help us continue to deliver essential independent local journalism — today and beyond.
Steve Coffman is executive editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
