A year ago today, I pushed the “publish” button on the first post on this site, about the Skip Wells Memorial Ride at Sprayberry High School. Today, as the 1st anniversary of East Cobb News rolls around, I couldn’t be more grateful for the support from so many of you in this community.
The humble beginnings for this independent, local news site have guided me well through this first year. I try to keep this in mind every day as I aim to strengthen the foundation for East Cobb News, with this simple pledge: 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.
After nearly 700 posts, East Cobb News has covered the gamut of subjects—local government and schools, public safety, zoning and development, small business, community events and more—just like a newspaper, but all online.
While East Cobb is part of a larger county and an even larger metro Atlanta region, there are 200,000 people here, along with countless local businesses, who now have an all-local, daily news source.
When I tell citizens and local business owners what East Cobb News is all about, it is this. There’s nothing else like it. They have many options for getting local news, but none of them covers only this community, all the time.
Before publishing that first post, I had envisioned starting a site like this for quite a while. This is my home community, and I have previously been a reporter here during my newspaper days, as well as in an online capacity.
In launching East Cobb News, among my objectives was to give back to a community that has profoundly shaped me in so many ways, and at a time when quality, professionally produced news and information at the community level is becoming harder and harder to come by.
Local news has been especially hard-hit by the fallout in the newspaper industry that employed me for many years. A full decade after I left, the losses are even more acute.
Recently imposed tariffs on Canadian newsprint have been devastating, and as The Marietta Daily Journal noted in a recent editorial, have added 30 percent to already-high costs for printing the news.
However, the value of local news is also is gaining notice in communities nationwide. The deadly shootings of five employees of the Capital-Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Md., brought together a community shattered by a tragic event.
The journalists killed weren’t the media stars and pundits of the national political press. They were workaday journalists, like me, who were invested in their communities, as citizens, taxpayers, homeowners, parents and volunteers.
The non-glamorous work they do, well out of the spotlight and at a fraction of the salaries, is critical to fostering stronger civic life and communities. In an age when many people distrust the press, restoring trust and credibility can, and must, happen at the local level.
As a member of LION Publishers (Local Independent Online News), I’m also part of a growing band of community-based publishers, editors and journalists committed to serving communities in this way.
At the core of our mission is to create and foster sustainable news businesses. It’s been a big leap for me to go from being a news reporter and editor to news entrepreneur, but this is how community newspapers evolved more than a century ago.
Local businesess, like local readers, have plenty of options for promoting themselves in the community. As we begin year two, East Cobb News is reaching around 20,000 unique visitors a month—a healthy number for a young, locally focused publication—and we’re eager to help local businesses grow with us.
If you run a local business, please check out our advertising philosophy, which includes flexible rates and options for any kind of enterprise.
We’re also launching 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.
It’s been a satisfying first year for East Cobb News, but we’re only getting started. As always, feel free to get in touch with feedback and questions: wendy@eastcobbnews.com.
Or you can call anytime at 404-219-4278.
