Dear Subscriber,
I’ve spent the better part of a week being mad as hell at The New York Times.
The truth-seeker in me was blindsided on Saturday when The Times published a story that said the only newspaper in Ann Arbor was the student paper at the University of Michigan.
The Papa Bear in me is furious on behalf of the professional journalists who work day in and day out at The Ann Arbor News, which is the reigning Newspaper of the Year in its circulation division in Michigan. They were stunned and hurt that an industry standard-bearer would nullify them, as our staff members feel they are on the same mission as every other serious journalist.
 I’ll get a couple things out of the way right now. First, no knock on the student journalists at UM. Hats off to them for learning such a vital profession. Anything they contribute to the understanding of our community is a plus.
Second: Yes, The Ann Arbor News has gone through a lot in the last 10 years. We closed a building, laid off employees, and changed the name of the publication to AnnArbor.com. We cut home print delivery to two days a week. And then we re-adopted the name Ann Arbor News.
But guess what? We never missed one day of reporting on issues that matter to Ann Arbor residents. Same as in our other seven communities around Michigan, where we have evolved in the ways we report and deliver news.
And we aren’t in this alone. I wouldn’t even be writing this if it weren’t for YOU, the readers, who have gone on this journey with us. In some cases, we changed how you can access news; but in others, you were out in front of us. You started using the internet more for everyday life; then you needed it on your smartphones; then you wanted it via social media, and in video format.
And that’s why arguing about what format constitutes a newspaper is pointless, bordering on irrelevant. What’s relevant is having trained, professional journalists on the job, with a company behind them that is committed to resourcing them to keep doing their jobs. And that we do it 24/7, every day of the year.
You reward us for that commitment. We are the #1 read news organization in every single one of our eight communities, and we are #1 read statewide.
In Ann Arbor, that equates to 1 million unique users a month to content from our staff based there. In September, readers consumed nearly 13 million views of that Ann Arbor content. Breaking news, investigative pieces, crime and court coverage, high school sports.
Has a lot changed in the news industry, in Michigan, in our company and in the way we report and deliver news? Yeah – my dedicated colleagues and I have lived it every day. Have we made mistakes along the way? Of course. This has been an unprecedented period in American media, and we’re still learning every day.
Do we have critics and detractors? All over the place, from the White House on down to the local gadfly. But we also have a large, dedicated reader base that is counting on us to stay focused on the job at hand – quality journalism, every day. |
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Sincerely,
John Hiner
Vice President of Content for MLive Media Group
Share your thoughts with him at editor@mlive.com |
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