For the RECORD

I wrote this a couple weeks ago and it never made it to print due to space constraints in my January 10 and January 17 issues.

I will publish it in my January 24 issue. It's written for my column / opinion area.

For the record, here’s a list of newspapers (town location) within a radius of 70 to 90 miles that the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper is bigger than: Albany/Avon, Eden Valley-Watkins, Foley, Granite Falls/Clarkfield, Belgrade, Maple Lake, Osakis, Parkers Prairie, Springfield, Tracy, Wabasso, Minneota, Battle Lake, Benson, Canby, Clara City, Kerkhoven, Starbuck and Wheaton.

Note: a few newspapers in that radius were not included in the main article on this topic that I published on January 10...because I did not have their 2017 figures available for comparison. 

Here’s a few to mention with their 2018 figures. Battle Lake's newspaper has an audited 2018 circulation average of 1,504. Brandon’s newspaper (covering the Brandon-Evansville school and area) said their circulation average was 1,557 in 2018 but did not provide an audited USPS report to the Minnesota Newspaper Association (MNA). I know that newspaper has been for sale for awhile now. The Clarissa newspaper said their 2018 figure was 2,050, but they also did not provide an audit. They are a newspaper I’m keeping my eye on, because in June 2017 their Eagle Valley school district folded. To me, that’s a death blow. The Chokio Review’s 2018 circulation average was 629. 

Newspapers (town location) that we’re basically the same size as: Madison, Melrose, Renville/Olivia, Staples - at least as of October 2018. Since then many changes could have taken place. This is business, and the business world is changing at a faster clip than it ever has been in history.

All the figures mentioned are available online and are public information. The MNA works diligently to make these figures public for the sake of transparency. Newspapers ask and often demand transparency from countless public and private organizations (within the realm of data privacy laws). I feel it’s only right to show the public how we’re doing and talk openly about what we need to improve on.

This is also posted at the Bonanza Valley Voice website:
https://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com/story/2019/01/17/opinion/for-the-record/787.html.