Thankful for the community’s support of Sentinel

Each morning I sign off on the Sentinel’s daily newsletter with “Thank you for supporting local journalism.” It might seem repetitive at this point, but this time of year, it’s more than appropriate to expound on that a bit.

The Sentinel, the only daily newspaper in print and online in Santa Cruz County, continues to thrive because of its print and online subscribers, as well as advertising.

Our morning newsletter of top headlines reaches nearly 30,000 inboxes each day and in one month our website reports 354,020 users, which doesn’t include individual article views. Additionally, we still have more than 32,800 readers to our print and e-edition. That number increases to more than 36,500 when we include the Sunday edition of the Sentinel. And while some would like to report that our readership has dropped, year over year it’s actually increased 11%.

It’s been challenging on many fronts, we’ve pivoted several times, but our hardworking staff makes it work daily.

In the midst of a pandemic we hired three reporters. Mind you, we were already working from home at this point due to COVID-19 restrictions, so Ryan Stuart, Melissa Hartman and Hannah Hagemann had the challenge from the get-go to learn to work for a newspaper without stepping into a newsroom. Weekly video calls on Google Meet have been our only connection to each other.

Veteran Sentinel staff including Photographer Shmuel Thaler, Sports Editor Jim Seimas, City Editor Donald Fukui and Staff Writer Jessica A. York all had to pivot as well.

I am so thankful that instead of jumping ship, our team rallied together and made each day work for you, the readers, so that we can all stay informed about the crazy world we have found ourselves in.

The publishing system adopted by our NorCal team many years ago really paid off given that we can log in from anywhere and write our stories, put pages together, maintain our website and connect on social media. Working remotely meant something completely different for us in the last year, but it’s worked.

I’m also thankful that we were able to bring back former Sentinel Editor Don Miller, who is now overseeing our Opinion page and Editorial Board of Sentinel staff and volunteer community members. This was in direct response to our readers who demanded, after a short hiatus, that we bring back letters to the editor, editorials and guest commentaries – direct links to our community that we all so desperately needed.

Thank you for weighing in each week about how we’re doing, what we can do better and what is going on throughout Santa Cruz County.

Additionally, I’m thankful for our local correspondents who round out this local daily newspaper for sections including Eat+Drink, The Guide and Home & Garden. They always make deadlines and send spectacular photos. Other correspondents help beef up our sports coverage with articles, columns and photos. This is coverage not offered by any other newspaper, online or in print, in the county.

Also behind the scenes we have a Circulation Department that watches over the day-to-day ins and outs of the Sentinel. Circulation Director Mardi Browning Shiver has worked at the Sentinel for 51 years! The Sentinel’s advertising reps, led by Advertising Director Steve Bennett haven’t missed a beat and continue to exceed expectations during a challenging fiscal year.

While a CEO of an online startup has his sights set on taking down our distant owners, our sights have always been and will continue to be on local coverage. After all, we’re your neighbors. We live here, work here and play here. We care about this community and its future.

I continue to be thankful that three years ago, or two years + one pandemic, a job opportunity opened in Santa Cruz for me to continue my career at a bigger, faster-paced newspaper. I’m also thankful for the little things, such as living within walking distance of Pacific Cookie Co. for a last-minute Dr. Midnight cookie purchase.

I’m thankful for my church family and gym family as well. The individuals at the Sentinel are successful because of the personal support we find in family and friends.

So at the risk of sounding hokey or small town, I will continue to thank y’all for supporting local journalism and the Sentinel. See you in the next newsletter.