For the Community to Step Up

As publisher emeritus of The Rye Record, and someone who spent 10 years helping build this paper with Dolores Eyler, its founder, and Robin Jovanovich, I think I have some basis for what I’m about to propose. What made this paper such a success was its vision of being a true community paper. There are still lots of local papers around the country, but they don’t have the depth of involvement of local residents that this paper has.

It seems to me that the next step to keep this paper in Rye would be for the community to step up, buy the paper, and then staff it as needed. Think of it as a consortium.  The consortium would be the financial foundation, not necessarily the editorial force. 

Rye is a very generous community. Hundreds of our residents donate thousands of dollars each year to very worthy charities, not to mention hundreds of hours of their time. I don’t think I am stretching things by saying that the role of a healthy newspaper in a community like Rye has value, like the contributions of the charities we support. In fact, it may be possible that the consortium could create a not-for-profit entity that would be The Rye Record in the future.

So, I challenge you who care about a good local newspaper to come up with a group of five or 10 or even 20 residents who sit down with Robin and see what makes sense.

The time has come.

— Allen Clark