Journal’s website to become subscriber-based offering

There is a tremendous amount of time and effort involved in gathering news, feature stories and pictures for a weekly newspaper. Producing a community newspaper is a labor of love, one that has been accomplished in Ritzville for 125 years.

The Journal is the prime source of community news for Benge, Lind, Ritzville and Washtucna. Delivering local news, sports, features and local advertising is our specialty. It’s what a community newspaper is meant to do.

A National Newspaper Association survey recently determined that 73 percent of those surveyed read a local newspaper at least once a week. The same survey also found that 75 percent of those reading community newspapers frequently make purchases based on advertisements found in community publications.

Nationally daily newspapers continue to decline as various forms of electronic media begin to whittle away at their existence.

For the most part community newspapers — which are mostly published once or twice a week — are maintaining a stronger presence in their markets because their news is hyper-local.

Even so, community newspapers can no longer ignore the electronic world.

About three years ago we recognized the need to expand our news delivery system by launching a website. With more and more people becoming active Web browsers, we felt a website was the next logical step in providing comprehensive community news coverage.

Today, in addition to the traditional newspaper, we provide a website, a Facebook page and a Twitter account. You can now follow us on Twitter @RitzNewsGuy. Every time we post something to The Journal’s Facebook page, a tweet is also sent out to our followers.

Since we launched our website, the entire content has been available for free to anyone who opts to go there. At the same time, our cost to produce and maintain the website continues to increase.

Beginning Thursday, Sept. 1, The Journal will convert its website to a subscriber-based product. We have loyal subscribers who pay annually to receive The Journal.

Those accessing the content (which has value) on our website should also be paid subscribers for the information they receive and the ease of accessing that information.

The basic home page content, obituaries and classified advertisements will continue to be available to anyone who visits the website. In order to access the majority of the online news content, users of the website will need to subscribe.

If you are currently a subscriber to the print version of The Journal, your access to our website will be free. If not, you can subscribe online and will then have access to all of our information sources.

Here’s the process for online registration:

Current subscribers who access continuations of articles for the first time will need to enter their information by clicking on “New Member” in the Member Login screen that pops up.

Required fields include username, password and e-mail address. Once that information is submitted, it will be processed within the system.

Users will be granted access once the subscription is verified. Once that process is completed, valid users will receive an e-mail stating they are now registered on the site.

Individuals who do not have a print subscription need to click on the “Subscribe” menu across the top of every page under the Journal’s banner.

The process includes choosing the appropriate length of subscription and entering credit card information. After the transaction is processed, the new subscriber will receive an e-mail stating they are now registered on the site.

People who are not currently subscribers of the newspaper are asked to use the “Subscribe” process listed above to ensure a proper credit card transaction.