Today’s a special day around here: On July 8, 2017, I published the first post on East Cobb News, as I pushed the button on a venture I couldn’t have imagined not long ago.
I’ll admit I was a bit anxious as I pushed that inaugural publishing button, about the Skip Wells Memorial Ride at Sprayberry High School.
I’ve been a reporter for a long time, but not like this. I’ve covered my community before, but not with this ultimate objective:
To report the news for the East Cobb community, and not just about it.
There are plenty of news outlets that do that, when there’s a crime or a fire or a wreck or a storm or a controversy or a novelty.
And then they’re gone.
That credo sounds simple, but as I’ve learned over these last two years, it’s a lot more difficult to carry it through.
My focus all along has been to make East Cobb News distinctive, and not just because this community is my home, where I grew up.
Over the past year, as I built on my first year of publication, I got plenty of encouragement from readers, citizens and many others.
One of the things I heard on occasion was: You don’t have an agenda.
What they meant was that they thought the stories they read here were straightforward and objective.
While that’s certainly something I aim for with everything I post, there are times when it’s important to state a clear perspective about something important going on here.
The East Cobb Cityhood issue certainly fits that bill, and the next few months will be very important ones in the future of this community for that reason.
This time a year ago, we didn’t know there would be an effort to carve out a part of the community for a new city.
That effort, which we’ve reported on extensively, has galvanized the public like nothing in quite a few years around here. It figures to garner even more scrutiny as the legislature is set to act on a bill that could drop a referendum in East Cobb voters’ laps next year.
The truth is I do have an agenda, as noted this time a year ago, and it bears repeating: To “meet the news and information needs of this dynamic community we all call home, and to promote local businesses who help make it better.”
In this third year, as East Cobb News reaches around 30,000 unique visitors a month—a healthy number for a young, locally focused publication—my chief objective will be to help local businesses grow with us.
If you run a local business or organization, and want to reach community-minded customers, please check out our advertising philosophy, which includes flexible rates and options for any kind of enterprise.
We have a business directory that’s ideal for new businesses, solopreneurs and mom-and-pop shops that includes a 25 percent discount for display advertising on East Cobb News.
I realize that readers and advertisers have other options. This a competitive market for news and advertising, but only East Cobb News is totally devoted to covering news and events every day, as they happen.
If that’s important to you, I ask that you have a look around the site, if you’re not familiar already, and see for yourself.
I also encourage you to sign up for the East Cobb News Digest weekly e-mail newsletter, which comes out every Sunday. It contains all of the past week’s top headlines, plus calendar listings, a community guide and so much more.
It’s free and easy to sign up, all in one click below.
Thanks to all of you for visiting East Cobb News, subscribing to the newsletter and following us on social media. We’re excited for what Year Three has in store!
As always, feel free to get in touch with feedback and questions: wendy@eastcobbnews.com.
Or you can call me anytime at 404-219-4278.
