I can’t put into words how much the love and support has meant to us over the past seven days. While we had hoped to have a successful launch, the response has blown us away. From all of us at The Community Journal, thank you!
But, we’re just getting started.
I made some bold statements and promises in my first column a week ago. Today, I’d like to make another in the form of transparency.
We will always stand by our motto of this is your news source. With that in mind, I plan to fill this space each week with updates about what is happening behind the scenes with The Community Journal. You will never have to ask yourself “What are they doing?!”
Here are some updates from The Community Journal team:
• First, as of Sunday, The Community Journal website is now displaying ads from Google Adsense in addition to local ads. Let me start off by saying we all hate ads. They are annoying and sometimes disruptive. The less there are, the better. However, since the very beginning, we have been and are committed to remaining free to use. To do that means that we will be driven by ad revenue. If any ad displays incorrectly or doesn’t appear right, let me know so that I can get that corrected.
• You may have noticed a request asking for permission to get notifications from The Community Journal through your web browser. I am currently working through exactly how to make that work the way I want. I take pride in being someone who is always learning and this is one of those examples. Please be patient as I work through the bugs of a new website.
• We are a very small group (some with full time jobs) trying to cover a very large county. Yes, we will grow. However, it will take time. As much as we always want to be everywhere all at once, we will inevitably miss some things here and there. I told you that I have an open door policy. So I encourage you to use it if you notice we have missed something.
• I want to take a moment to explicitly lay out the Journal’s social media policy. Comments left on stories posted to social media will only ever be hidden or deleted in the event that they contain explicit profanity, racial or sexual slurs. We will not, however, ever censor comments that we disagree with. We welcome criticism at The Community Journal. In fact, we thrive on it. How can we know how we’re doing if no one tells us?
• Breeze Phillips has taken over the majority of our Instagram feed. James and I trust her completely to handle that platform and look forward to how it progresses. Rachel Davis and Margaret Winborne will also have a hand in handling that platform. They are all far more qualified than myself to make that be successful. Perhaps I am getting old?
• We had intended to be recording the debut episode of “Inside The Vikes” today. However, scheduling conflicts prevented us from doing so this week. Look for the debut of the new show next week. The format will be familiar to what you are used to seeing from James and Coach Bailey, but with some new twists and surprises. Related to that, I understand the level of high school football coverage that is expected of James and myself. However, with things being what they are with trying to work full time jobs while building The Community Journal, we are going to do as much as we can. Bigger and better is coming, just give it time.
• Lastly, I want to say that what you’ve seen so far is only the tip of the iceberg. We’re not just coming into the game, we are looking to completely change the game. There are a lot of new and innovative ideas that are being explored. Some will work, some won’t. In the coming months, look for a lot of these ideas to be implemented as we continue along this journey.
That is going to wrap it up for this week. I hope you all continue to to read and enjoy everything we are doing as we work to give you the news coverage you deserve.
