Good Night to the Asheville Global Report newspaper

asheville | media | feature Tuesday May 22, 2007 16:03 by anonymous

FROM THE NEWSWIRE: I don't know quite how to say this other than just being direct. After the publication of this week's 436th issue of the Asheville Global Report, the newspaper will cease to exist.

Dear friends and family,

I don't know quite how to say this other than just being direct. After the publication of this week's 436th issue of the Asheville Global Report, the newspaper will cease to exist.

A combination of several factors has led to this inevitable outcome, and our newspaper is by no means alone. The past year has seen many of the strongest progressive publications meet a similar fate: Clamor, LiP Magazine and the NewStandard, just to name a few. The difficulties in sustaining a grassroots publishing enterprise of this sort have never been more apparent. Though most of AGR's reasons for stopping publication are particular to us, we do share with our defunct colleagues many overlapping reasons as well.

Without getting into the whys and wherefors here, let's just say we feel proud and lucky to have enjoyed a weekly consistent run as much as we've had. Really, it's taken several miracles to make even that possible –that, and the crucial support of friends like you who are reading this email.

You might not think that financing 2900 copies of a news weekly would be so difficult, but it sure is these days, especially one of our stripe.

The GOOD NEWS is that our little flagship tugboat has succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. It's carried us to a place where the baton has been passed to a more sophisticated method of information transportation. The newspaper's passing marks not just an end, but the beginning of an exciting new era for AGR, unthinkable a year ago, let alone over the course of our eight and a half year print run. Through our website and relatively new TV program, AGR is now potentially reaching 26-28 million people, a feat that would never have been possible with the newspaper.

And these figures are growing…AGRTV can now be seen on Free Speech TV on the Dish satellite network, as well as cable access channels in Asheville, Raleigh, and Chapel Hill. This week marks our debut on Boone, NC's puclic access channel and next week, Atlanta's(!!) Last month also saw a remarkable spike on our web traffic –the most in about a year – a number that has already been surpassed this month.

So though I'm sadly announcing our newspaper's funeral, it's with no small amount of excitement and optimism for the rest of the AGR enterprise.

I'm sorry for the impersonal nature of this announcement, but I needed to talk to as many of you as possible at once. This development will have a direct impact on some of you who work directly with AGR, whether you're a volunteer, reporter, an advertiser, a member of our top-notch radio team, or a loyal reader and supporter. Please be assured that I will be in touch however necessary as soon as I can to talk to you personally.

Thanks again for being there for us all these years, and for me personally. It has meant a great deal more to AGR and me than you may ever know.

Onward and upward,
Eamon