NORWALK Conn. — For those of us in the business, when a newspaper or news website dies, it is like a death in the family. When one is terminally ill, it is like having a relative with, as my mother used so glibly put it, one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel.
My mother came from a large family and was 10 years removed from her siblings, so she, by then, had become somewhat inured to loss. But I digress.
When Patch laid off 40 percent of its workforce nationally – about 480 people — and closed or merged 40 percent of its sites, we greeted the news with an unfortunate combination of smug “I told you so,” sadness for all the journalists, good and bad, who lost their jobs, and a bit of a shiver up the spine.
See, we’ve been there. NancyOnNorwalk exists, at least in part, because we have been there. We can and do sympathize with Patch’s people. We know first-hand how tough it is for a news operation — especially an online operation — to make enough money to stay in business, and we know how nearly impossible it is for a couple of people our age to find a job.
That’s why NancyOnNorwalk was born. We love what we do, but had nowhere to do it, especially the way it should be done. That’s why we don’t do inane fluff and press releases. We care about journalism and where it is headed. We care about the news. And we care about our community.
Yes, here it comes: Our initial request for donations was greeted warmly by many people. We took in enough to survive the rest of the summer and into early fall. But money is a funny thing. It runs out quickly. So we are coming back to you, hat in hand, and asking again. If you like what we do; if you believe we provide a valuable service to Norwalk’s citizens; if you believe that we should be compensated for our efforts, please consider a donation.
We will, in the coming weeks, be adding a feature that will allow recurring monthly donations. For now, we have the donation button to the right of this story, or you can send a check made out to Englewood Edge LLC, P.O. Box 65, Norwalk, CT 06856. (Englewood Edge LLC is the parent company named for our original site.)
Help us continue being Norwalk’s alternative source for news about your government, and about how those who run Norwalk in your name, on your dime, are spending your tax dollars.
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