~a column about Jefferson by Colleen O’Brien
The first week in November a year ago (Nov. 6, 2013, to be exact), Victoria Riley launched a newspaper for Greene County. She called it GreeneCountyNewsOnline.com, and here you are reading it, she hopes on a regular basis.
When Victoria hired me as a columnist, it was my first attempt at regular, weekly, online writing. I’ve been a columnist in a couple of places without too many breaks since 1981, but only in print. Beyond simply having a venue for my column, this online job is a good gig in many ways . . . not the least of which is the post-publication correction of misspellings or misinformation not caught, and – my favorite – the deletion of stupid things I manage to write. In regular print publication, the mistakes and stupidities are forever. This almost magical fixing of the written word by a call to the editor truly tickles me.
Another bonus of online news is that all of it, from last year at this time through the 53 weeks to this issue, readers can look back and back and back to their heart’s content without having to save stacks of newspapers or drop in at the newspaper office itself to look up back issues in the “morgue” book.
The only detraction to me is that I really do like the feel and smell and rustle of a newspaper in my hands, something I became addicted to as a child because that’s where I learned to read. On the floor in the living room after Mass one Sunday I realized that I was reading the funny pages. Talk about magic.
But, here I am in Cincinnati visiting my daughter, and I can read yesterday’s election results that impact me in Greene County, in the state of Iowa and from Congress. The internet is indeed a remarkable convenience and a demonstrated game changer for newshounds – both the writers and readers — of the world.
That we have an online in Jefferson is great for us and for all those afar who can bring this newspaper up on their computers so easily — in round numbers, close to 113,000 visits by more than 37,000 folks from every state. Close to 50,000 visits came from Jefferson, Churdan and Scranton, and there were visits from 310 other towns in Iowa. Visitors have come from all over the wide world. There are 22 countries where 30 or more visits originated.
I have been known to say that the 24/7 news cycle is nuts. No one needs this much news this often. But, it’s really up to us to pick and choose, turn it off, throw it away, go for a walk. And at least with the internet versions of news, we have every variety at our fingertips from PBS to Al Jazeera to Huffington Post to Fox to the Sydney, Australia Morning Herald to the International Herald Tribune (well, after 125 years it’s now changed its name to the International New York Times) to the Congressional Record, The Tea Party Express or the Daily Worker . . . or GreeneCountyNewsOnline. Because it’s a web newspaper, we are now as worldwide as The London Times.
Victoria updates and adds sections when the need or the mood hits; for example “Good News Sunday,” a weekly salute to just that – good news.
And she’s done some no-charge ads for fundraisers like Relay for Life and the Grand Junction community center as well as school-related events like the high school musical. This is a big deal in my eyes, a truly community-centric newshound covering the fun stuff and the necessary – Halloween parties and Easter egg hunts, school boards, the city council and the board of supervisors.
Victoria’s thoughts on being the publisher, editor, reporter, photographer, ad sales person, designer . . . many hats on this girl: “I really enjoy the timeliness that’s available with online publishing,” she said. “After so many years writing for weekly newspapers [something like 15-20 right here in town], it’s great fun to be able to post news while it’s still new.”
Lots of us like it, too. Several people I know support GCNO by using the “Donate” button at the bottom of the online newspaper (I was going to call it a “rag,” a sometimes affectionate name for a newspaper, probably having to do with paper being made out of rags at one time; but now of course this particular news source can never be a rag, only a post). If folks have liked perusing free news, they can help assure its sustainability by donating.
Congrats, Tori. You’ve made us quite sophisticated and current here in this little town in the middle of the cornfields. Here’s to many more years of doing what you do so well.
