Dear Editor,
As a small business owner for 30 years, I applaud the bipartisan bill (Community News & Small Business Support Act) introduced by Claudia Tenney and Suzan DelBene and know of it only because I subscribe to and read The Eatonton Messenger (July 27, A4). Dean Ridings of America’s Newspapers does a good job explaining the harsh reality of local newspapers while telling readers how to help. Now, we can help by reaching out to our representatives.
My business was in the greater Atlanta area and advertising in The Atlanta Journal and Constitution was very expensive. However, the AJC advertising team did a great job of creating ways for small businesses to run ads at affordable rates. All you had to do was call and work with an advertising representative.
Every time I ran an ad campaign in the newspaper, my business benefited from new customers. I was a regular advertiser and I can say with authority that the AJC cared about my small business and the small business community. In their prosperous days, they held small business workshops to introduce new concepts and opportunities, including how to advertise for digital readers when it was all so new.
I felt the impact of the AJC’s struggle as they fought the inevitable disruption and went from prosperity to barebones, losing my longtime advertising representative in the storm. Survival became the focus of the paper and small businesses lost footing and affordable advertising opportunities. You see, local papers and small businesses do benefit from one another if they work together.
So, while you may not own a small business or read the local paper, if you want to see a community thrive, it’s important to support both. A financially healthy local newspaper can offer small businesses a way to reach new customers with affordable advertising. Without new customers, small businesses struggle. Without small businesses, a community suffers.
This bill is a great way to bolster small communities, local newspapers, and local, small businesses.
Respectfully submitted, Bonnie Kallenberg Former owner of award-winning consignment stores, Finders Keepers