Dear readers, we need your help

Dear readers:

Our team is working around the clock to keep you informed in these unprecedented times.

We are working remotely and keeping with the practice of social distancing while still reporting and bringing you the information you need to navigate these difficult days. We’ve broken news, held our leaders accountable for decisions made and not made, investigated tips and worked to bring context and utility to our content.

Our digital readership is higher than it has ever been, in part because of the seriousness of the situation and in part because we’ve dropped our digital paywall for COVID-19 stories as a public service.

But we need your help.

As many of you know, our parent company, McClatchy, is in the midst of a bankruptcy restructuring. As we said then, we expect you will not see any significant changes to The State as part of that restructuring. Many other newspaper companies have done the same before us and come out stronger on the other side.

COVID-19, however, presents a new challenge to all businesses, including ours.

As businesses shut down or contract, newspapers are receiving dramatically less advertising. Across the country media organizations already facing tough headwinds are getting squeezed further. Publications that depend solely on advertising (we are about 50-50 subscriptions/advertising) are shutting down while others are taking cost-cutting steps such as layoffs, pay cuts and furloughs.

We are not immune to these economic realities.

Subscriptions are critical to our ability to sustain local news coverage and to our future. Because our coverage has been free, readers have bought fewer subscriptions than they might have otherwise.

Beginning today, we are adjusting that paywall slightly. Stories directly relating to health and safety information, critical utility information and breaking news will remain free, but less vital stories will move back behind our paywall.

If you aren’t already a subscriber, we ask that you please invest in our work. We are currently offering a special monthly rate of 99 cents for the first two months.

If you are already a subscriber, there’s another way that you can help. Thanks to a matching grant from Report for America, we hope to add a reporter in June who will focus on livability issues in the Midlands and the long-term recovery from COVID-19.

But we need reader support to raise the matching funds to make this work possible. Individuals, organizations and businesses can make a tax-deductible donation directly to Report for America using the form found at bit.ly/39E3VKA. All of the money will go directly to paying the salary of this dedicated staff member.

We know many in our community are hurting right now, and we’re just one of many organizations asking for support. For some, a subscription or donation won’t be an option. We understand, and please know that we will continue to provide you with critical information for free as long as we can.

But for those who are able, please consider supporting our work in one of these ways. Thank you.

Brian Tolley is the executive editor of The State newspaper and editor/general manager The Island Packet/Beaufort Gazette.

This story was originally published April 2, 2020 at 2:29 PM.