How we are growing – and how we need your help

Benns' Belief

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By Roderick Benns

Roderick Benns is the publisher of The Advocate. An award-winning author and journalist who grew up in Lindsay, he has written several books including Basic Income: How a Canadian Movement Could Change the World.

Advocate publisher Roderick Benns invites readers to continue supporting independent, all-local journalism. Photo: Sienna Frost.

There has been a seismic shift in the local media landscape. With no more weekly newspaper in (and from) Kawartha Lakes, the future for local journalism is more critical than ever.

Fireside Publishing House, our small, local company’s publishing identity, is responding and growing in many ways. For instance, we have launched two new magazines – The Business Advocate and Kawartha Social. This business publication and lifestyle magazine are both published three times per year.

The Business Advocate reaches Peterborough, as well as Kawartha Lakes, and features great business writing and opinion columns, all by local writers and business experts.

Kawartha Social, our premium lifestyle magazine, also covers both Kawartha Lakes and Peterborough. Its focus is on “community, culture, food, fashion, and home.” This magazine also features Erica Ehm as our premier columnist.

The Lindsay Advocate, though, remains our flag publication to cover Kawartha Lakes news and features and will continue to be monthly. We are also increasing our distribution and adding new sections. This includes more sports coverage, a real estate section, and a classified section at the back that we call Marketplace. Online, we will be developing an affordable Obituaries section.

And there will be more new features to come.

In the coming weeks you may see other media from outside our area trying different things, such as creating Kawartha Lakes ‘sections.’ But only the Advocate is 100 per cent local for trusted print news. We don’t need to create a Kawartha Lakes section; we are nothing but Kawartha Lakes.

From a distribution angle, the Advocate’s strength is that people choose to take us home with them. They invite our magazine into their living rooms and kitchens. We are not crammed in residential mailboxes, whether people want us or not. This is a powerful marketing advantage when advertisers are inside a publication where the brand loyalty is so strong. (We are also mailed to every business in Kawartha Lakes.)

But we somehow find ourselves in a world where media is expected to be free. Right now, our advertisers are to thank for the products we put out. But we need your support, too, because there is a significant cost to do what we do.

Producing high-quality, reliable news requires substantial resources, including journalists, researchers, editors, and for the expensive printing process. By voluntarily paying something for your local news – even just $5 a month – you contribute to sustaining journalism at the grassroots level.

That’s why today I am asking you to visit lindsayadvocate.ca and choose Support Us from the top menu bar. You can safely make a monthly show of support using your credit card. Or call us directly at 705-341-1496 and find out other ways in which you can offer financial assistance, no matter how small.

Thank you for supporting independent, all-local journalism.

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