The Citizen bids adieu
By Robert Dickson
Publisher
Our efforts to find a successor to take on this newspaper have not borne fruit, so this will be the last issue of The Carrboro Citizen. This is one of the most gut-wrenching decisions I’ve ever had to make.
This little newspaper has succeeded beyond our wildest imaginings. In five-and-a-half years we’ve become part of the fabric of our community. You’ve told us over and over you trust and respect what we write.
Honest and straightforward journalism has defined our efforts. Our goal has been an informed citizenry, because we know that better information makes our community a better place to live. We think we’ve made a difference.
Back in the fall of 2006 when I muttered those fateful words (“Carrboro needs a newspaper”) in Jock Lauterer’s community journalism class at UNC, little did I know what an amazing time was ahead of me.
But here we are six years later with 7,500 newspapers flying off the stands every week, writers begging for more space and more emails than we can count coming in every day about stuff our readers think we should cover. Amazing, indeed, for a startup newspaper in this digital age.
Our regular staff deserves special thanks for bringing you this newspaper. Susie, Taylor, Rose, Marty, Anne and Duncan have worked various parts of the past five years to bring you The Citizen. Susie and Taylor have been here since the beginning back in March 2007. Taylor’s probably the only person who can claim to have read darn near every word in every issue.
Our regular contributors also need our thanks. Kirk Ross helped found The Citizen and has continued to pound out weekly columns using his vast institutional memory. And how fortunate we were to have the astounding Ken Moore and Jock Lauterer gracing our front and back pages, Phil Blank’s unique view of our world, Val Schwartz’s community views, Alicia Stemper and Ted Spaulding’s photos and Eddie Landreth’s personal angle on UNC sports.
Thanks as well go to our MILL contributors Mary Sonis, Margot Lester, Ashley Melzer and the Beer Guys from Carrboro Beverage. Kirk contributed his point of view on local food and my partner, Vicky, has covered the literary scene. Your efforts have enriched all our lives. Coyotes, movies, music, beer, food and books – that’s life in Carrboro for you.
Our delivery staff has faithfully and reliably brought the newspaper to your favorite location through the worst weather central N.C. has to offer. Delivering newspapers is hard work, but Wendy, Mondo and Chuck have done a great job.
All of these folks should feel great pride at what we’ve accomplished. They’ve been underpaid and overworked, yet always willing to do more. I thank you all, and I know our readers do as well.
We’ve also had wonderful support from a long list of advertisers who have understood the value of being seen in their hometown newspaper. A trio of advertisers stands out for their longevity: Carrboro Family Vision, who advertised in all 290 issues; Weaver Street Realty, who made it into all but the first issue; and Cat’s Cradle, who anchored our colorful music page. Weaver Street Market believed we could help them back to prosperity; I like to think we played a part in our co-op’s resurgence. There are so many more who deserve mention; thank you all for your steadfast support for what we’ve done.
For our part, Vicky and I appreciate all the good wishes we’ve received. We’re proud that we’ve been able to bring The Citizen to our community. It’s been our pleasure.
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May 15, 2008
Seeing this headline struck me like reading the headline announcing the death of a friend. Oh, such a loss for Carrboro and Chapel Hill! Thank you all for your dedication and for producing such a great newspaper.
My family published community newspapers for 150 years until a few years ago. I know the challenges you faced. You have every reason to feel great pride in what you provided this community.
This hurts, and it will hurt for a long time.
Sad to hear. I enjoyed working with you. Best wishes to all of you.
Goodbye to the only paper I read front to back, every week. This is sadder than I expected, since I never really thought we would lose it. Sorry we couldn’t keep our paper going.
I still don’t understand why you didn’t try to return to the online-only model that The Citizen used to get off the ground. Hopefully this archive of great reporting will remin onnline for future reference.
Either way, there is no other professional media outlet that can hold a candle to the work y’all did. You will be missed.
Ruby, we *never* reported news on our website before we started the print edition. I want the history to be straight on that.
We will definitely keep the website as an archive and hopefully find a good home for our bound editions as well.
And thanks to everyone for their kind comments.
Based on my experience, there is simply no way an online-only version of the Citizen (or a similar publication in the same size market) could generate enough advertising revenue to employ a full-time editor, 2-3 writers, a business manager, an art director and an ad salesperson. There would have to be an alternative revenue stream of some type, such as a pay wall and/or reader donations. But even with that, I don’t think this market (or many others outside major urban areas) is large enough to support a hyper-local online news source.
Like Bronwyn said, this is sadder than I expected. I have truly enjoyed Jock’s photos and stories over the years. I feel like I have so many more friends because of it. And Ken? Well thanks to him, I now recognize mullien when I see it :)
Thank you Citizen “family” for creating such a wonderful paper. I will miss it.
Anyone out there interested in putting together a kickstarter to buy the citizen and turn it into a nonprofit?
I came to Carrboro in 2005 and can hardly remember what life was like before The Citizen. How sad, a small town like Carrboro without a paper just doesn’t seem right. Hats off to you Mr. Dickson and your remarkable staff for your efforts. You have left a lasting impression on Carrboro. Your journalism has been right on over the years with the exception of your last comment: To say that you’ve made an impact on the community is a gross understatement!!! we wish you all the best in your future endeavors. THANK YOU.
Grant, I would donate a significant amount. I’m moving to Carrboro soon, and one of the things I was looking most forward to is reading The Citizen again.
I want to say thank you for giving a budding journalist her first byline…. It was a honor to be published in your newspaper! After being here for only a year, I realized the citizen was a staple for all UNC students.
Thank you!
So sorry to lose this wonderful paper. It has brought a sense of community to Carrboro, and it will be missed.
This is indeed very sad.. I would happily pay for a subscription to the newspaper and pick it myself weekly at Weaver Street Market. A kickstarter would probably be successful… If journalism was a field of interest for me I’d help make it happen and regardless I’ll certainly donate to such an effort in gratitude for years of reading in lieu of attending Board of Alderman meetings myself – the Carrboro Citizen will be missed; it’s been a center of community life.
Thanks for being a voice in our community and providing news and information to the town. Thanks also for being a friend and partner with the UNC journalism school.
The Citizen has conveyed the heart and soul of our hometown. The loss of her voice has brought a small group of folks together with interest in how to move forward.
This small group of Friends of the Citizen have been discussing the viability of developing a non profit. If seriously interested in funding and/or have experience in publishing and editing a paper such as the Citizen, please contact me: havenod@gmail.com for meeting information.
I liked reading the online Carrboro Citizen local coverage and especially looked forward to the plant stories. (Sometime I even clicked on the ads.) What is going to happen to this website?
We plan to maintain our web site as an archive, including PDF versions of all our issues so you can see stories, ads, puzzles, everything. We already have PDFs going back to November 2009 and hope to fill in back to March 2007 before too long.
Maybe we’ll even post something current if the mood strikes us.
And if you like Ken Moore’s plant stories, make sure you visit carrborocitizen.com/flora where you can find all of Ken’s columns, almost 290 of them.
We’ll have a few more Flora columns soon, starting this week, in fact. These will be posted on the main site as well as the Flora site.
Thank you for supporting the farmers’ market over the years and publishing recipes that promote local eating and support the local economy.
Love, love, love this paper; it was part of the soul of our town! Let’s do what we can to bring it back…count on me to help fund a kickstarter campaign, or contribute to a nonprofit, or pay a subscription rate. You guys rock!
As Aristotle said, “Nature abhors a vacuum.” Hopefully, another paper will spring up to take its place. An interesting town needs an interesting paper.