When Village Media, the parent company of GuelphToday, chose to introduce a membership platform, there were two questions that immediately came to my mind as community editor of GuelphToday:
(1) Why? (2) What are we giving people in return for their support?
First off, it’s a way for this business to create revenue, but more than that, it’s a way to create revenue that will be directly invested in the product. As a member you are helping provide the resources that allow us to make GuelphToday bigger and better.
GuelphToday recently added its fourth and fifth reporters to our staff. Plain and simple, contributions from our loyal readers have helped us create a quantity and quality of content that nobody else in Guelph is doing, nor have they done for several years.
That’s a direct reflection of the support GuelphToday receives from you, the readers.
Now what are we – on an editorial level – giving you for your commitment to us?
The answer is engagement, some extra features about our work and, hopefully, a better understanding in what and how we do community journalism in Guelph.
You will get the story behind the story from our reporters, you will get insight into what we do and why we do it, you get to ask questions and will get answers, you will get the opportunity to let us know – let me know – what it is you want to see on GuelphToday, what interests you and what stimulates you.
You will also have the opportunity to read or listen to the raw interviews that were behind the news stories on our site.
What you won’t get is news and stories that others don’t. This isn’t a paywall. Nobody will pay for access to the news and our photos. GuelphToday will always be free.
Will you dictate what GuelphToday does? No, because then you wouldn’t get the independent, objective local journalism that abides by a code of ethics and professionalism which will always be at the root of what we do. That’s why you’re here.
But you will get to let us know what you want and why you want it, and we will listen. Because if we don’t we aren’t doing community journalism.
We will answer your questions. We will take your thoughts and opinions as we move forward.
We need to understand our audience and engage with it, hopefully creating a better level of understanding for both of us.
We hope you want more. A different layer of engagement. A chance to better understand us, and us you.
It’s new. It will evolve. But we want you to be part of that evolution.
