This issue marks the start of our eighth publishing year. The first two Reporter editions, serving Sandy Springs and Buckhead, rolled off the press in January 2007. Today, our five publications—now including Brookhaven, Dunwoody and Intown—cover some of metro Atlanta’s most diverse and dynamic areas.
The past few years have been a time of dramatic change in the print media industry; pundits have been predicting the demise of newspapers for a while. But, fortunately, that hasn’t happened and our own growth path has bucked the trend. That’s because our publications reach residents who care deeply about their cities and want the “hyperlocal” information found only in community papers like ours. We know that you appreciate this attention. A recent study by the National Newspaper Association confirmed this, with eight in 10 readers saying they rely on their community newspaper for local news and information, while two-thirds say they also look for advertising from local businesses.
From the beginning, our intent was to offer readers a credible and colorful source of local news with a singular mission—to provide fresh and engaging information about your communities. The bi-weekly Reporter Newspapers and the monthly Atlanta INtown, which we acquired last May, now have combined circulation of 100,000 copies. Each publication serves to inform residents about issues and actions affecting their homes, neighborhoods, schools, parks and business districts. Often these very local matters, which are the cornerstone of our mission, don’t make the headlines of a daily newspaper or fit the sound bites of radio and television news. Nor do they pop up in a Google search—although they can usually be found at our websites, reporternewspapers.net and atlantaintownpaper.com, which together drew more than a half million unique visitors last year.
Hundreds of advertisers use one or more of our papers to promote their products and services cost-effectively to customers and prospects within a few miles of where their businesses are located. We are grateful to this growing base of advertisers who have made our publications an integral part of their marketing efforts, especially at a time when smaller budgets have to do a bigger job. We encourage you to patronize them, which also helps to build economic stability in each community.
We always look for ways to enhance our content to better reflect readers’ interests. The addition last year of the monthly Perimeter Business section (see pages 7-11 in this issue) is one example. Also, starting in this issue, we are introducing restaurant reviews and related “news you can eat” (pages 16-17). Our food writer, Art Huckabee, is an elite-level Yelp reviewer and his articles already appear in Atlanta INtown. You’ll see other new features in the issues ahead, including a local columnist and real estate reports.
Our initial mission is still intact, fueled by the enthusiasm of a talented and experienced staff (pictured above). We care very much about what goes into our publications and what you think about them. Your feedback is important to us. Please let me know how we’re doing and what we can do better. Contact me at Publisher@ReporterNewspapers.net.