How The Sarnia Journal works

Today marks the 10^th edition of The Sarnia Journal, which is something of a milestone for your local independent newspaper.

When we set out two months ago our stated goal was to connect with the community by producing interesting stories and photography that matter to the people of Sarnia, Bright’s Grove, Point Edward and Corunna.

We hope we’ve done that, and today want to update you, and thank you for your response.

The feedback from readers has been overwhelming, to say the least. What we’ve heard from Sarnians – and ex-pats around the world – is they want to continue getting lively, fact-based local news in an easy-to-read format.

We also get questions, and two of the most frequently asked are:

• How can you produce a quality newspaper that’s free?
• And will readers one day have to pay for it?

Our business model is based entirely on advertising revenue. With the continuing paid support of both our for-profit and non-profit sectors we can continue to grow. In fact, we recently added two additional part-time staff to produce an even better community newspaper. Readers can help ensure our success by letting advertisers know they read The Journal and are also reading their ads.

Ours is now a 12-member team and everything we do – writing, photography, layout, sales, graphics, accounting (excluding printing) continues to be done here, for distribution to 30,000 homes and apartments.

Finally, we want readers to know we genuinely welcome your contributions. We have limited resources and can’t be everywhere at once, so we’re fortunate to have an engaged and opinionated readership.

Community letter writers, guest columnists and photographers enliven our weekly pages, and residents enjoy sharing their family announcements, wedding anniversaries and birthdays in our community section.

We’re off to a successful start, and from all of us at The Journal, we offer a heartfelt thank you.

- George Mathewson, editor

- Daryl Smith, general manager

- Paul Brown, sales manager