Norwalk Reflector is here to stay

NORWALK — News of our distress is greatly exaggerated. A prayer posted on the sign in front of St. Paul Episcopal Church on Main Street is thoughtful — and appreciated — but there's a bit of a misunderstanding remindful of what Mark Twain said when he was asked about his death. "Pray for the Norwalk Reflector," the message states. "We are no different than what many businesses are facing during this pandemic ... forced to make very tough decisions in order to stay in business," Ron Waite, publisher of the Sandusky Register and the Norwalk Reflector, said Thursday. But the mission remains the same — and it's as important as it ever was, maybe even more so — in times of trouble. "Our dedicated staff is working around the clock to bring our subscribers the most updated local information concerning the community with much effort focused on the pandemic," Waite said. CH-CH-CHANGES Both the Reflector and the Register put a temporary freeze on all submissions from our freelance writers, as a cost cutting measure. That includes Debbie Leffler and the outdoors column in Norwalk, and Bob Russ in Sandusky and other independent contractors. The freelance corps account for a small percentage of our daily print content in the newspapers. Writers like Russ and Henry Timman, and local political cartoonist Don Lee have been longtime contributors, however, who are valued by the newspapers and readers. A hiring freeze also has been instituted and hourly employees had their hours reduced in response to the economic impact of the pandemic. All salaried employees also had a percentage decrease in their pay. The changes — also included furloughs for several employees — were announced on April 3. "We get the largest portion of our revenue from businesses that advertise with us," Waite said. "Unfortunately due to COVID-19 pandemic many businesses are closed or have reduced their marketing budget, which has forced us to make these changes." Waite said there's been "a drastic and abrupt decrease in revenue" with many of the advertising circulars from chain stores — inserts — being temporarily canceled, and local businesses putting a freeze on their marketing budgets due to the murky economic forecasts caused by the pandemic. "Our business model has been undergoing change for many years," Waite said. "We're fortunate because we've been adjusting for that in many ways prior to this pandemic, including consolidating our press operations and our administrative staffs." BUILD A BETTER BUSINESS MODEL In late January, we went to a new website platform and since that time our ePaper — a replica of the daily print product published at the websites each morning has been open for everyone to read. Prior to the new website our ePaper was locked and only available to our paid subscribers. On Thursday, our new website platform finally was able secure this feature once again for our loyal paid subscribers. We do provide subscription offers at our website for digital only access. Both newspapers also provided a free news-stream at their respective websites for many years, a practice that will be drawn back substantially in the next couple of weeks. "We're going to keep our COVID-19 news feeds available at both websites at no charge, but our local digital content feed will be limited. The number of free news stories readers can get will be cut back to just 15 per month," Waite said. "Our newspaper and digital subscibers will continue to have full access to all our content on our websites." Once a reader hits story No. 15, he or she will be asked to subscribe and help us build a better business model. "We have a large and loyal group of readers, people who care about their community," Waite said. "With our digital content centers, the number of people reading the Norwalk Reflector and the Sandusky Register is 10 times the number it was 25 years ago." FIRE IT UP Those changes, charging people who regularly read our content, are permanent, Waite said, but the freeze on freelancers and the reduction in hours and pay for salaried newspaper employees are temporary. Other changes Waite made are designed to ratchet up our local news coverage during the pandemic. Two newsroom employees have been added to the news team. We have re-purposed two of our talented sports writers to cover news. Reflector sports editor Mark Hazelwood and Register sports reporter Jimmy Watkins both will be covering news and community stories in Huron County. Hazelwood has been ranked as the best sports reporter, feature writer and sports columnist in Ohio for many years, and Watkins, a recent graduate of Ohio University, was hired by the Register in 2018 and earned first-place awards for writing and reporting from the Associated Press last year. "I'm thrilled to have Mark on the news team," Reflector managing editor Joe Centers said. "His ability to go deeper and get the detail and grit of a news story is like no one else's. Just watch: Readers are going to get amazing stories from Mark and Jimmy in the weeks ahead." The Register and Reflector were purchased by Ogden Newspapers in August 2019. The national newspaper group, with about 50 daily newspapers across the United States, has re-invested in both local newspapers and upgraded IT systems, press and plant operations. Reflector reporter LynAnne Vukovich also will be a contributor to an Ogden national news team covering the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on families, schools, businesses and industry. "We're really excited about the new contributions from Ogden's national team and for the content it will provide our readers. It will be quite unique, professional. We're going to tell the stories about the pandemic and its impact on all of us in powerful ways," Waite said. The Reflector's newspaper building on Monroe Street near Uptown was sold March 2020. The press and distribution warehouse at the building were shut down years ago, leaving the building having three times the space needed to support the newsroom and customer service desk. "We're still looking at properties that would work best for us and for our customers," Waite said. "Our goal is to cut expenses wherever we can — in a smart way — so we can continue to provide our readers and our advertisers the product that's served our communities for 200 years."