FRONT PAGE STORY: The Friends of the Daily Sitka Sentinel (FOSS) is devoted to supporting the local newspaper in Sitka. It aims to ensure that truth-seeking reporting covering our tribal and rural citizens including community organizations, the arts, science, health and healthcare, education, children, family, culture, fishing, the economy, tourism and local government remains a basic part of our democracy in Sitka.
Having a good local newspaper turns out to be good for everyone. Research shows that in communities where local newspapers have closed people don’t understand each other as well, views become more polarized, fewer people vote, bond ratings drop and borrowing costs go up. But here in Sitka, the Sentinel promotes civic engagement with local journalism, legal notices, obituaries, births, and a breadth of public service announcements. It helps us learn from the past, and from each other and ready a next generation of small town but big minded people. It’s more than just a newspaper – it’s the story of us.
Gifts to the Friends of Sitka Sentinel Advisory Fund will assure that local reporting continues to enrich our community as it reflects the rich woven tapestry that makes Sitka so special. Here’s how your donation will make a difference:
Sustaining Local Journalism: Funds will go directly to maintaining and expanding our team of dedicated local reporters who bring you the news that matters most to Sitka.
Enhanced Coverage: Your support will allow us to cover more stories, dig deeper into important issues, and give a voice to diverse voices and perspectives within Sitka.
Digital Expansion: As we adapt to the changing media landscape, your contributions will help us invest in digital platforms to reach more readers and ensure that everyone in Sitka has access to timely, accurate information.
Community Programs: We will create and sustain programs that engage the youth of Sitka in journalism, ensuring that the next generation is informed, engaged, and ready to carry on the tradition of strong local reporting.
Donate today and be a part of the story.
BACK STORY: Researchers are busy mapping America’s growing “news deserts.” We are studying those dynamics so that we can make good choices about how to assure the Sentinel remains sustainable. Newspapers are not as profitable as they were in pre-internet years. Facebook and Google have eaten up a big chunk of the industry’s advertising revenues — income that made newspapers profitable in the past and kept subscription prices low.
But that’s not the whole story. There has been tremendous consolidation of news organizations in recent years, too, and with that, pressure to reach impossibly inflated profit targets. Deep cost cutting has followed. Left without the resources to do good reporting, pursue relevant stories, follow up, and listen well, many newspapers have disappointed their readers. Apathy about the importance of journalism has been a result.
But that is not the case in Sitka where we value our daily, locally owned newspaper.
Please help keep the paper (and the web version) going. This group is approved by the publishers of the Sitka Sentinel. Click below to donate or for more information contact Lisa Busch lisajeanbusch@gmail.com
To Donate
Donate by credit card using the link below or make your checks payable to: Juneau Community Foundation, 350 North Franklin Street, Suite 4, Juneau, Alaska 99801. Please call us at 907-523-5450, or email info@juneaucf.org for information on donating stock, wiring funds, establishing a Fund, gifting a portion of a Qualified Charitable Distribution from your IRA, or naming the Juneau Community Foundation in your will as a designated beneficiary.
