This Thanksgiving, we would like to take time to thank our community. The Hernando Sun is able to continue delivering great local content because of the readers, writers, and advertisers who support us. Please also continue to support our advertisers that you see in the newspaper and our digital platforms.
We are amazed by the prowess in our local community. Our writers are amazing talents; many have also written books. Our photographers not only have tremendous expertise, but their equipment often costs many times what we pay them in a year. They love telling stories about the community in which they live.
Because you tell your friends and family about your newspaper, we are growing. We are increasing our readership both in print and online. According to our 2023 CVC Publication Audit Report, we have an estimated 330,000 total contacts on average. This breaks down to a print readership of 8,809 and 329,265 digital contacts.
We recently had a new subscriber relay an interesting story. She received a sample newspaper in the mail, and her son took it. She then received her second sample (we sample two weeks in an area), and her neighbor took that paper. She was signing up for three subscriptions because she saw how they really appreciated the newspaper, and Christmas is right around the corner.
A major issue in today’s society is accurate contextualized information. Family, locally owned community newspapers are leading the way on this front. Their communities trust them because they are part of their communities. They offer context not found on social media when discussing complex issues, allowing reasonable people to have productive conversations.
Another reason the Hernando Sun is trusted is our transparency. A big concern for people is who owns their news sources; ownership may affect how stories are covered. My wife Julie and I founded the newspaper 10 years ago and own all the stock. There are no silent partners. We celebrate our large advertisers via the pillar program, so you know the businesses that are major contributors to the newspaper.
The Hernando Sun enjoys recognizing the wonderful businesses and organizations in our area. This past year, we hosted our first Reader’s Choice awards banquet. It was a wonderful time, and tickets sold out quickly. This upcoming year, we are planning on holding the event in a larger venue so that we can accommodate more guests.
We would like to thank all of you who make up our community.
