We Must Be Doing Something Right

Germantown Newspapers Incorporated, publisher of the Germantown Chronicle and Mt. Airy Independent, is reaching its two-year anniversary this month.  We succeeded the local newspapers from these communities when they were among a large group of local papers closed down by the Journal Register Corporation on its road to bankruptcy.

Our Mission Statement was printed on the front page of the first issues and was entitled “An Informed Northwest.”  We have made every effort to fulfill that mission, going beyond the parameters of previous journals and doing some in-depth reporting on issues that directly affect the quality of life and use of public funding in both ongoing and projected developments.  Our lead story in our first  issue focused on the use of public money to rescue a twice-failed club/restaurant in Mt. Airy.

In that two-year period since we put together a professional staff we have been the recipient of a great deal of positive feedback from the readership. But some people of influence and in community leadership positions have a different perspective and have told us so on more than one occasion. This is not unexpected, for it has long been said that if you are a newspaper publisher and you make anyone completely happy you are not doing your job.

During this same time period we have watched a former membership newsletter become a full-fledged newspaper with widespread household delivery; three other newspapers rise like a phoenix from the formerly bankrupt corporation; and the creation of a news and interactive website focused on Northwest Philadelphia with a huge subsidy from a charitable trust. In addition, a local news website has emerged as part of a national franchise operation.  In a city where many communities have no local news outlet, the Northwest has gone from one – the Chestnut Hill Local - when we began to nine, all of them claiming to serve the communities of Germantown, Mt. Airy, Chestnut Hill, and West Oak Lane.

Draw your own conclusions, but we feel we must be doing something right if so many want to compete for this news base. Or are we doing “too much right” for those who for many years had a comfortable control mechanism working between elected leadership, a few developers, and a political machine that kept the general public at arms length while using their money and assets for the benefit of a few?

We have heard expressions of “regret” at the intensity of our reporting from our critics, in the hopes of our re-defining ourselves as the kind of manicured newsletter that only preaches to the choir. Some in elected leadership have taken even stronger steps to silence Germantown Newspapers. What are the sources of funds for some of these new news entities?

As we continue to move forward we must decide how to use our expertise and technology and make some decisions. One of them is how we move forward and who we serve.  We expect to we will expand our coverage of government and political issues to those that are more city- and state-wide, and also some that are resonating on the national scene. There are  many critical issues that should be front and center in the public arena and we expect GNI to be in the forefront in Northwest Philadelphia on the issues.

The Independent and Chronicle will move toward a broader scope and broader circulation, with a greatly expanded website. We can see no reason to change the depth and intensity of our reporting, but only to broaden it. A significant increase in letters to the editor following our last issue indicated that readers recognize and approve of it in concept, if not philosophy.  We are convinced more citizens want thought-provoking information rather than reinforcement of the prescription political and governance medicine they have been offered in the past.

We have begun to provide expanded coverage on major issues that the quality of life in the Northwest more than all the other outlets combined.

In order to help us make decisions about future changes, please fill out the questionnaire in this week’s papers and forward it to us.  You can do it online through our website as well.

Jim Foster

Publisher

Please forward your responses to Germantown Newspapers, 5275 Germantown Avenue, 19144 or email editor@germantownnewspapers.com