Shelter Island Reporter Editorial: Journalism 2019
Our mission has long been to provide you with the very best community journalism.
And beginning at the end of this month, we’re asking more of our readers to support that mission.
Beginning on May 28, digital access to shelterislandreporter.com will no longer be completely free. Non-subscribers will now be given five free articles per month. After reaching five stories, you will be prompted to become an all-access member. Digital subscriptions are $52 per year or $6 a month.
For a limited time, we are giving all Reporter users five additional free articles for a total of 10.
If you are a Reporter print subscriber, you will continue to get digital access for free.
The login button is in the top right corner of our website.
This change has been brought on by disruption in our industry that has led to a steady decline in subscription and local advertising revenue for all community news publishers.
The way we tell stories has also changed dramatically in recent years, from words and photos on a page to stories we bring to life on our websites and through social media. Our investment in these areas has brought numerous prizes for excellence from the New York Press Association. Last year, we were named one of the top three newspapers in the country by the National Newspaper Association in our circulation’s category.
Journalism is something that has historically been paid for, and it is our belief that the type of content we deliver is worth paying for — and in order to adapt to new technology and rising production costs we have made several more changes to the way we charge for content. In February, our newsstand price increased from $1 to $2, the first increase in 20 years. This month, our home-delivery subscription rate was raised to $85 per year.
If you have questions or need help with subscription issues, please contact circulation manager Keysha Terry at (631) 354-8014 or [email protected].
Additional questions can be directed to publisher Andrew Olsen at (631) 354-8031 or [email protected].
We appreciate the commitment you, our readers, have made to us. Our talented staff will continue to strive to produce top-quality work that we hope makes a positive difference in your life and in our community.
Vote yes on the Shelter Island School budget
At a time when costs for practically everything continue to rise, local governments and school districts are expected to absorb cost increases for insurance premiums, building heating and cooling systems, salary and other contractual services, materials and pages of items over which the Board of Education has little or no control.
The state exempts some costs from the 2-percent increase it allows, but that hardly accounts for the many increases that must be absorbed without piercing the tax cap.
Each year, it becomes more difficult, yet Shelter Island has managed to stay within the tax cap every year but one.
The Board of Education has managed to meet its 2019-20 obligations with a budget that is very close to the current year’s spending — $11.9 million as compared with the $11.7 million current plan. It did so with frugal spending in the current year that allowed some money to be added to the fund balance.
This budget deserves support by a wide margin.
