You've all seen the story on the front page, so let's just get right to it.
We are currently going through an ownership change. Technically ink has been put to paper and it's a done deal, but still, there will be changes we go through on a day-to-day level. Health insurance, different systems for payroll and time off, reporting to a new boss... you understand.
And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the gratitude we have for the Rhoades family sticking in the newspaper business for six generations and keeping things local for as long as they did. In today's media landscape, it's a tough gig sticking to your roots. Although things got to a point where they felt a need to sell, there are no hard feelings. They hired me when I was fresh out of college (albeit I had an internship under my belt) and believed in my abilities as a reporter. For that, I'm grateful.
But that brings me to the point of this column. It's understandable if you feel uneasy about your local paper being purchased by a company that isn't from the area and that you've never heard of. What I will tell you, though, is that all of our staff has been retained and in a conference call on Tuesday, Tim Prince, president and CEO of Carpenter Media Group, said their plan is to “stay in the background” while us local journalists provide boots on the ground and keep doing our jobs.
So, you're going to keep seeing Matt Gengler around the county at sporting events snapping photos and bringing you the box scores. You'll keep seeing me... doing whatever it is that I do.
Until you don't! But I have no idea when that is. I don't make promises I can't keep, so I'm not here to give you a “Wolf of Wall Street” Jordan Belfort moment (if you know you know), but what I will say is that we're still here.
I'm looking forward to seeing how things with Carpenter Media Group go. In the meantime, Matt and I are still your friendly neighborhood reporters who just want to do our jobs to the best of our ability. Carrie is still here holding down the front office. Echo, Robin and Paul are still taking care of your sales and advertising needs.
Hopefully, if all goes well, all the change will affect us and none of it will affect you. The paper will look the same. The local news will keep coming. And if you're somehow reading this and you still aren't a subscriber, what are you even doing with your life? Get on it!
Thank you from the Times-News staff for your readership and your trust. We hope to keep bringing you the newspaper that you deserve. And, like, seriously, subscribe. I'm not kidding.
