Small Town News

Advertising, relationship with school key to Herald providing news, features

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Readers may have noticed a letter that appeared on this page in last week's edition of the Hutchinson Herald. The letter questioned why there appeared to be a lack of articles and photos concerning sports teams and school activities related to the new upcoming school year at Menno Public School. The letter also referred to the fact that when articles do appear in the Herald, they are often credited as submissions.

While the Hutchinson Herald strives to provide as much local content as possible on community events - including activities at Menno Public School - we are constrained on a number of levels as to what we are able to publish on a regular basis.

Like many small weekly papers, we simply can't be at every event and we have to rely on school staff to provide us information about upcoming and past events. When possible we make every effort to cover them. However since we can't always be there, we welcome news and photos that are submitted by the school.

We try to publish those articles as they are received. Some items that are not time-sensitive may be held for a week or two until there is room to give them space with as little editing as possible.

We continue to pledge our efforts and encourage administrators, teachers and coaches to continue to keep the lines of communication open.

We feel it's important for our readers to understand that the number of pages that make up an issue of the Hutchinson Herald is determined by the amount of advertising revenue the paper receives in any given week. Because there are only so many pages we can provide a week for local news coverage, it is sometimes difficult to include as much in-depth coverage as some of our readers would like on some subjects.

Unfortunately, the space we have for local news coverage has continued to shrink over the past year as advertising revenue has decreased considerably. And, sadly, that trend shows no sign of letting up.

In an effort to help offset the reduction in news space, the Hutchinson Herald recently underwent a slight redesign in order to make the best use of its available news space. What was once regularly published as a paper with at least eight pages now publishes often as a six-page newspaper.

Special advertising issues are occasionally published with the help of special sponsorships from local community businesses. We tap these sources several times a year, including the annual special graduation section, the annual Christmas section as well as sections for special events that warrant exceptional coverage, such as the Menno High School boys basketball team's run at the State B Basketball Tournament last year.

The Hutchinson Herald makes every effort to publish and promote items on the people and events of the Menno community with no small amount of focus on the Menno Public School District. And we pledge to continue to provide as much space as possible to news and features that are important to our readers in Menno, Olivet, Lesterville and beyond as our advertising base allows.

We welcome readers' input. Last week's letter was critical of the Herald but it provided us the opportunity to share some of the dynamics that go into producing a weekly newspaper in a small town. And it gives us a chance to tell you that with the help of our advertisers and supporters providing us with news tips and articles, we hope to continue a tradition of news coverage that dates back over 125 years.



Copyright 2009 Hutchinson Herald, Menno, South Dakota. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2009 Hutchinson Herald Menno, South Dakota. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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