Dear Readers,
We have decided to take a hiatus from printing the paper edition of Big Bend Sentinel this summer, while we figure out how to adapt to the evolving landscape of community journalism and the increasing costs of printing a physical copy. Thus, your mailbox will have no print edition this week, but your inbox will.
However, all the same groundbreaking reporting you’ve come to rely on from the Big Bend Sentinel will be available online, as it always has, and we plan to send out two email newsletters with this content each week instead of one. If you haven’t already, check out the fascinating story from Sam Karas this week on early landowners in Big Bend National Park: “‘We already lost it once’: Eminent domain returns to the Big Bend.”
With subscriptions continuing to increase, we know that the Big Bend Sentinel matters now more than ever––no doubt you have followed our much-lauded reporting on the border wall. In fact, our reporting has been so paramount to state and national coverage of the border wall that we have a new partnership with ProPublica and The Texas Tribune.
All the same, increases in postage, printing rates and gasoline costs for distribution are contributing to a situation where we lose far more money than we make for the cost of printing each week (and that doesn’t begin to cover the expense of paying for our reporting and editing staff).
However, with more subscriber eyes on businesses, we hope to increase advertising revenue on our website, through our newsletter and via our digital edition. Additionally, we are soliciting funding from grants and donations from our readers.
Of course, none of what you read each week would be possible without our staff. Even during these challenging times, Ariele Gentiles, Kate Bubacz and Jennifer Pittinger—as well as my longtime friend and roving border wall reporter, Sam Karas have remained steadfast in bringing you the news.
What drives me onward is the amazing world of the Big Bend and all the beautiful and, yes, crazy, stories from the past and present that I’m so enthusiastic about telling.
What does this mean for my subscription?
All subscribers have always had access to all content online. Simply click from the email newsletter to go to the edition page each week, or head there any time at bigbendsentinel.com and click “Sign In” at the top right of the home page. If you’ve forgotten your password, there’s an option to have a link emailed to you to reset it. If you continue to have any problems logging in, email editor@bigbendsentinel.com. Once you sign in, you can again go to “My Account” at the top right of the home page to look at your account status and payment method.
The monthly rate of $6 for subscriptions will be the same, as will the $50 annually for tri-county residents and non-locals who opted for digital access only, and $60 for non-local subscribers who wanted the printed edition. (Again, those rates do not come close to covering the cost of printing a physical paper.) While you have the right to ask for a pro-rated refund for not receiving the printed edition, we ask that you continue with your current plan to support our efforts. However, if you receive a renewal notice by email and don’t want to pay anything extra for a printed paper, we ask you to send us a heads-up at billing@bigbendsentinel.com, and we’ll make sure you’re at the digital-only rate.
Onward.
Rob D’Amico
Editor
