By Gaylen Duskey
As many of you may know by now I am no longer the editor of the Calhoun Chronicle.
I did not retire.
Instead I was told that because of weak advertising sales and poor circulation the newspaper could no longer afford to pay me and was going in a different direction by having another employee of the company – Mountain Media, LLC of Lewisburg, W.Va. – assume the duties of editor of the Chronicle while also serving in another position within the company. Dual duties as they were. My salary at the time was $8.75 per hour or minimum wage.
I looked at the Calhoun Chronicle this past week and my thoughts were “the only thing Calhoun about the Calhoun Chronicle was the name.”
There were two local storis in the Chronicle and one of those was a story I had edited and placed in the publication queue before I was let go.
Calhoun deserves better.
While I do think the newspaper will get better than this past edition it strikes me that this is no longer a publication for the people of Calhoun County.
Why?
There is no newspaper office. There are no local employees either sales, circulation, production, or editorial. The only contribution to Calhoun County is whatever taxes the newspaper pays.
My suggestion is that we form a group and buy the Calhoun Chronicle.
In other words Calhoun people producing a Calhoun newspaper for Calhounians.
What needs done when the newspaper is bought and brought back home?
1. We need to establish an office in the county.
2. We need to hire somebody to man this office.
3. We need to get somebody locally to sell advertising and handle circulation requests.
4. We need to bring back free basic obituaries.
5. We need to cut the $1.50 counter sales price to $.50.
6. We need to make the entire focus of the newspaper local from chicken dinners to reunions to children’s sports and we need to use lots of pictures for mom and dad and grandma and grandpa to look at and cut out for their scrapbooks.
7. We need to have fair and honest coverage of every governmental agency, when they meet, where they meet and before they meet so our citizens can attend these meetings and have a direct impact on how we are governed.
8. We need to have stories about our history so that we know who we are, who we were and how we got here.
9. We need to be a positive voice for Calhoun County but not afraid to cover the bad things that happen too and to put them where they belong, even on the front page.
10. We need to know the difference between fact and opinion and keep the opinion on the opinion page only.
The Calhoun Chronicle needs to be of and by the people of Calhoun County and I will work with anybody willing to work with me to make this happen and if this is not done I fear the newspaper will go the way of the dinosaurs and be only part of history and a memory of days gone by.
I hope you are willing to take on this task with me.
The people of Calhoun County deserve it.
