Opinion: Editorial: Support Local News

What do you love about where you live?

Adapted from a previous editorial ...

Has your organization been featured in the Connection Newspapers, or the Alexandria Gazette Packet or the Mount Vernon Gazette or the Centre View or the Potomac Almanac?

Have our papers taken note of your business when you pitch in to help the community? Or when you opened your doors or celebrated a milestone?

Are you an elected official whose messages are enhanced by coverage of issues in the Connection?

Do you work for a part of local government that has asked for help getting the word out about a need or a new initiative or accomplishments?

I have a special favor to ask:

Buy an ad in our 2019 Newcomers and Community Guide. Please.

Show your support for our organization which continues to be here to support the forces of good in our communities.

Our annual Newcomers and Community Guide is a thematic paper publishing Aug. 28, 2019 for all 15 Connection Newspapers. Deadline is Aug. 22.

If you have a marketing budget, and you value coverage of local newspapers (not just ours), why wouldn’t you spend a portion of that budget (any portion) in newspapers? Heed the cautionary tale in the accelerating closures of newspapers recently. Support local news.

For the same reasons that organizations, businesses and campaigns know they want local newspaper coverage, newspaper advertising is an effective way to reach voters, residents, clients. The Connection has an audience of more than 150,000 in print and online, including remarkable demographics. Our readers include local and national decision makers in the public and private sectors.

The deadline for the Newcomers and Community Guide is Aug. 22. Digital enhancements and support are available. More information at email sales@connectionnewspapers.com or call 703-778-9431.

Share Tips about Community

We also need help from our readers for content of our annual Guide.

We're hoping to share special places, activities, events, organizations and volunteer opportunities. What should someone new to your neighborhood know about? What is it that you love most about where you live?

We will publish a selection of local viewpoints along with information useful to newcomers and long-time residents alike, including information on how to vote and more.

See last year’s community guides by going to www.connectionnewspapers.com/PDFs/ and scrolling down to Newcomers.

Email tips and photos to editors@connectionnewspapers.com or send as a letter to the editor via the website at http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/contact/letter/ by Aug. 23.

— Mary Kimm

For information on advertising, email sales@connectionnewspapers.com or call 703-778-9431. See www.connectionnewspapers.com/advertising.