A note to readers

Dear reader,

It’s been sometime since I last wrote to you all in these pages – to say that quite a lot has happened in the intervening period time would be something of an understatement.

This time around, however, I’m penning you a few words about something purely practical: to inform you that next week, Saturday, November 7, there will be no print edition of the Buenos Aires Times.

Don’t worry, it’s just a simple oneweek stoppage – Covid-19 hasn’t taken us out yet and fingers crossed, when this pandemic passes, we’ll still be going strong. So before you go shedding a tear onto your toast, weeping into your waffles or crying into your cereal, I can confirm that normal service will be resumed the following week. And, in addition to that, our website will be continuing as normal regardless of this stoppage, with new articles every day.

So then, why are we doing this? Well, sometimes in life, the stars align – that’s the simple answer. Next Saturday is Día del Canillita (“News Vendors Day”) and traditionally, newspapers in Argentina don’t go out on that day. Therefore, the only way we could reach you all is via a PDF version that we’d host on our website or elsewhere. There are a number of problems with that model (which are far too boring to go into here in detail) but needless to say, we’d either need all of your emails in advance or to make assumptions about how technologically-literate our readers are. And so, after much pondering, I’ve decided that we will hit the pause button for a week. There are two main reasons for that and the workaholic in me feels the obligation to explain why, so here goes.

First, the main focus of next week – for the whole world – is going to be the US election. It is likely this time around that we will not know the result on the night and possibly not for the following days (especially if Trump follows up on his legal threats), so information will be developing fast. To that end, we will devote much of our resources next week to covering the election as it happens on our website – www.batimes.com.ar.

Secondly, this is a decision for all of us at the Times, a tiny thank you to those who contribute and to their families. Covid-19 has affected all of us, whether at home or abroad, and since March, the small team that puts together this paper has been tirelessly, and remotely, without stoppage. Quite frankly, we could all do with a little time off, even if it is just a day.

Tensions are rising everywhere it seems right now. Frustrations are running high. We should not let them get the better of us. Perhaps it would be a good idea to do ourselves a favour and create the space we need in order to rest, relax and take a breath.

See you in two weeks.