Local news used to mean something.
Local news wasn’t just a way to sell ads, where there are more words on the page selling than there are informing. With local and regional media consolidation, formulas were applied that were designed to squeeze every dollar out of your community into a larger publisher’s pocket, without any regard for the produced work.
It should go without saying that each town has its own culture, and you cannot apply a formula to something so personal and specific to each area.
Especially when decision-makers at these consolidated media conglomerates aren’t living in the community they serve day in and day out. I’ll let you behind the curtain a little bit: conglomerate local media’s goal is to pump out just enough news to say they’re a newspaper, while making it cheap (sometimes free) so they can buffer their subscriber numbers while stuffing the rest of the page with advertising.
Where they lost us, like so many other industries, is the fact they’ve watered down their product so much that the routine of reading the paper isn’t enough to satisfy our local news needs anymore. Opening a conglomerate-owned local newspaper on any given week has one human interest story, one government-related story, stories from the state, country, or world via contributions from the AP Wire, and so many advertisements.
It’s time we remember the role of local media in our town and lives. As a neighbor, I see the same town that you do. I have the same questions you do. What the heck is happening at that development? Is there a business going in that building? Why is my favorite park closed? What’s that event on 1st Street?
Let’s get some answers.
This idea has been in the works for a little while now. My wife and I moved to Newberg from Portland back in early 2021. I, being a good former journalist, subscribed to our local paper so I could understand a bit more about our community and what goes on around us.
What we found was confusion and anger surrounding the school board’s actions. We also learned a lot about our neighborhood communities — Woodburn, Canby, and Wilsonville — and events/news happening over there.
What we didn’t find was a list of Newberg events where we could get to know our neighbors. We didn’t learn anything about the store that was opening up or closing down. We didn’t know why there was a traffic stoppage on Main St., and we didn’t see the results of the local election without going to the state government site.
As they say, “there has to be a better way.”
What is Newsberg?
In short, Newsberg is an independent, locally owned, and operated online news media resource for the Newberg-Dundee area. It publishes online via www.newsberg.org and produces a weekly newsletter that summarizes the biggest stories from the past week and informs on the upcoming events and stories in the coming weeks.
Who are You?
My name is Branden Andersen, and I’m your Newberg neighbor. I have been writing professionally since 2008 when I wrote a weekly column for my local paper in high school. I studied journalism and communications at the University of Oregon and graduated with a degree in Journalism focused on magazine and editorial journalism in 2013. I’ve written for several publications around the state, including The Bulletin in Bend, Ore. and Portland Monthly Magazine.
Newsberg Core Pillars
I’m founding this news media resource with a few things in mind:
- Newsberg is and will always remain free. News belongs to the community, regardless of financial standing. However, we do accept reader contributions that enable us to invest in this project.
- Newsberg aims to be as impartial as possible, focusing on reporting facts rather than injecting opinions and political slants into stories.
- Newsberg is community-funded, meaning it will only sell advertisements to local business and organizations, and advertisements will not inhibit the user’s reading experience.
- Newsberg will focus on community-driven stories that matter. Our inbox will be open to hearing tips, comments, and of course criticism. Just remember that a) I’m a human and b) I’m truly doing my best.
There are of course things that will be added to this list, but this media outlet is founded on these core principles. Make it easy for the community to get the news and event information it needs. Let the community help you make it happen.
I’m betting the success of this company on that idea, and by extension, you.
How Can I Help Newsberg?
Tell Your Friends. As of now, when we’re kicking off, tell your friends and neighbors! Readership will help increase the value of this site, which will allow me to provide advertising selling points to my potential customers, and in turn, provide me the financial freedom to make this my full-time job to get you more news consistently. Scaling would also allow me to hire another reporter and/or a copy editor, maybe a photographer or two so we can really give this thing some legs. But, one thing at a time.
Contribute. If you want to contribute financially, we’ve set up a page with News Revenue Hub that will help pay for the site, the various software tools needed to run the outlet, and occasionally buy me a coffee and/or pint when I need to push the creative juices and pump out a story.
In the future, as we’re more established, I’ll set up fundraising efforts that will provide more runway.
What’s the Best Way to Get Newsberg?
I believe the newsletter is far and away the best way to read Newsberg news. Released every Tuesday morning, the newsletter starts with an introductory few paragraphs that will largely fill you in on all the news from the past week. Then comes the feature story, followed by an advertiser who helps me distribute this for free, the upcoming events calendar, and then any collection of other stories, weekly comics, and more.
You can see our newsletter archive HERE.
You can also follow Newsberg on social media (Facebook, Instagram). However, I always tell people that it’s not my favorite way to distribute news: posts on social media platforms have to compete with a lot of noise, and have generally trained readers to read headlines and keep scrolling rather than understanding the full story.
While we don’t have a print product (yet), we hope to have something in the future. But, as mentioned before, one step at a time.
Thank you so much for reading. Now, back to the news in Newberg-Dundee.