As regional news denigrates even more, We have decided to increase and widen our coverage for area, state, national and international news.

So, why would a weekly newspaper expand coverage in such a way? 

The answer is simple. We have been a leader in just about all aspects of news as we near our 34th anniversary. The people of Wayne County have too often retreated, or expected to retreat from what is happening in Monroe,  the City of Rochester, Ontario, Seneca, Cayuga counties. Unless it affects us directly, too many people never look beyond their own borders.

Oh, sure, we may glance at the area dailies, peruse the 6 o’clock news and catch a glimpse on the national news concerning this, or that. In reality, hundreds of large and small newspapers across the country have all but disappeared. This causes “news deserts” where people are cut off from not only local, but national and international news.

Our own local daily Democrat and Chronicle has laid off the vast majority of local reporters. Now,  a good amount of news and stories is either from national, or state desks, leaving only glaring headlines of local news. Even then, it is tampered down to inside stories.

Now, Gannett, the once House that Frank Gannett built, with its headquarters once in Rochester, has announced it is shuttering the local print operations. In truth, the local paper has become a shell of its heyday, with fewer pages and local input.

Me, I’m an old world news hound. I still believe people are news hungry, but if you give them what they want to read.

I did some research on weekly newspapers and discovered something rather impressive with the Times of Wayne County. Simply put, we have more subscribers that some of the so-called ‘biggies’ in the business.

Yes, our online readership is growing at a fast clip, but the folks who still want to hold the actual paper in their hands and read, are more than staying onboard.

A New York City outskirts weekly paper was recently sold for a good amount of change and notably, they had only a quarter of our circulation.

We have no intentions of discontinuing the print edition over on-line delivery.

As you may have become aware, the Times of Wayne County was jobbed out and printed by Gannett for the past decade. We expected the local printing would disappear within a few years, but were really shocked that they planned to exit the area this coming April.

At first we scrambled for a replacement printer, then discovered we were in demand as a customer. Even out-of-state printers were eager to not only print the paper, but do so on our schedule. We are currently debating the pros and cons of each printer, with a decision coming early next week.

Needless to say that is one problem off our minds. The switch from the Gannett plant will take place before the set deadline of April 1st.

Now back to news coverage. We believe the Times of Wayne County is filling a gap in area, state and national news, while still giving our readership the best county coverage. We have no intention of Wayne County ever becoming that ‘news desert’ that is cropping up all over the country.

By the way, the Times is looking for  local writers to fill in more gaps. Bottom line folks, we want more news!

By the way, in case you have missed some relevant news, the total number of people killed in the Turkey/Syria earthquake has now surpassed 19,300.