|
As we near the end of the calendar year, the "staff" at The North Country Gazette expresses our sincere gratitude for your readership and for the phenomenal growth NCG has experienced.
As we embark upon a New Year, we find ourselves proud of what has been, what we have accomplished with your help and look forward to what will be in year ahead.
While The North Country Gazette was founded in 1981, first as a weekly newspaper for 14 years, and marked its 25th anniversary this past year, 2006 was the first full year of daily on-line operation for the publication. And it was a challenge.
Although on-line since 2003, NCG began posting daily in September 2005 following the demise of The Empire Journal, a publication in which NCG publisher June Maxam had been co-publisher and editor and from which she was wrongfully excluded by Ginger Berlin.
NGC's continuing coverage of the Schiavo case, New York's Medicaid program, the investigative reports of the Baumgartner case in Ohio, the Michael Niesen and Sean McMillan cases in Florida along with reports of legislative, judicial and legal news drew readers from across the world, reaching nearly a million readers in 2006, reading over 2.3 million pages, recording nearly 8.5 million hits…..and the readership is steadily increasing!!!
This is a far cry from The Empire Journal which recorded 10,853 visitors in January, 2005; 36,885 in February, 2005. Berlin had estimated an annual readership of 263,000 for TEJ had it continued through 2005. NCG's readership in 2006 is nearly quadruple TEJ's estimate for 2005.
The top 15 most read stories at NCG for 2006 were:
The January 2006 wedding of Michael Schiavo and Jodi Centonze
Continuing coverage of the Terri Schindler-Schiavo case
Continuing coverage of the Elsebeth Baumgartner free speech case in Ohio
Continuing coverage of the Ralph "Bucky" Phillips case and shootings of NY State Troopers
Continuing coverage of the Ethan Allen boating tragedy on Lake George
Florida couple charged in plot to murder their grandchildren
Continuing coverage of Texas Futile Care Law and Andrea Clarke story in Houston
Ohio ethics case of Gov. Taft and embezzlement case of Bush fundraiser Tom Noe
Trial and conviction of Oklahoma Penis Pump Judge Donald Thompson
Sex and the students---Christian Brothers Academy Teacher Sandra "Beth" Geisel
Cloud of Suspicion-Michael Niesen death in Clearwater auto accident
Ticonderoga sex case of EMS dispatchers
Ethics cases and ousting of Congressman John Sweeney and NY comptroller Alan Hevesi
Fonda swim coach rape of swim team member
Firing of Watertown Sunday School teacher for being a woman
The NCG is free to visitors with the exception of member-only articles. While we offer subscriptions that provide members with the Daily News Digest and access to The Scoop and other special columns and features, so far we have allowed The North Country Gazette to remain accessible to the general public at no cost.
However, NCG is not "free" to produce. One pays a price in more ways than one in being an independent news source Gaining access to public records and other documents needed is costly. Due to the independence of our reporting, NCG is obviously not sponsored by the government nor mainstream advertisers. We must rely on our readers to either subscribe, patronize our affiliate advertisers or contribute to support our efforts and in turn, we try to provide consistent, reliable service. Our subscribers are given priority in the consideration of topics for news articles.
Of course we invite potential advertisers to contact us for rates so that their message about their product or service can be presented to our growing number of readers, their potential customers and clients.
Over the past several months, we have had to decline to cover several significant reports of governmental, judicial and legal abuse in individual cases. This troubles us as we certainly aware that the justice system is already premised on money. Money talk, people walk but we must be able to minimally cover our expenses. People who aren't even subscribers have asked NCG to expend time, resources and money to investigate their case and report it to the public and unfortunately, we have had to decline. In the case of Michael Niesen, the youth killed in 1977 in Clearwater, Fla., following a police chase, although more than two weeks was spent on obtaining and reviewing police reports, conducting interviews and writing several exclusive articles, brother John Niesen who had made the original request for NCG to look into the matter never so much as said thank you. While we reached a great many people and may have had an impact in the reopening of the case, we didn't even recover the associated costs and the time spent in researching that case took us away from others.
It has been a challenging, exciting and rewarding year as we brought issues to our readers and tried to hold Government accountable. We are committed to educate the public and to search out the truth, to tell the other side of the story rather than just present the canned one the mainstream media tells, to ensure that our Constitution is the supreme law of the land, not the judiciary, to restore the balance of powers and Constitutional order.
As we close 2006, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to our readers. We ask that you consider subscribing to The North Country Gazette to help fund our continuing efforts, place your next order to Amazon through our website as we realize a commission or purchase "Tangled Web: The Schiavo Case".
NCG needs both your financial support and readership in order to continue our independent news coverage and presentation of issues and stories that the mainstream media cannot and will not cover because of their fear of losing advertising support and of angering the powers that be.
Individuals wishing to subscribe can do so in the left hand corner of the home page at www.northcountrygazette.org. Donations can also be made from the home page through PayPal, even $10 will help defray the costs and allow us to undertake more in-depth coverage of individual cases of injustice.
We wish our readers, good health, happiness, prosperity and peace in the coming New Year and look forward to continue serving you.
Once again, we thank you. 12-28-06
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed by anyone without the express written permission of the publisher. This article is copyright protected.
© 2006 North
Country Gazette
|
