Press "Enter" to skip to content

The JOLT needs your support!

Local journalism across the country has suffered from the consolidation and monetization of news organizations, causing many local papers to downsize while increasing prices. Thurston County is fortunate to have the online newspaper The JOLT to fill some of the holes left by declining local coverage by the local daily print newspaper.  The JOLT was established in 2020 to provide our area with local news that was no longer being covered in other news media – for free online.

The JOLT writes about everything local. It keeps you abreast of the actions of our City Councils and County Commissioners, community events, business news, local opinion pieces, police activity and how all this affects you. It recently won an award from the Institute for Nonprofit News for its series of photographs and text essays on Olympia’s unhoused population.

But the The JOLT is also struggling to survive and needs our support.

This year, The JOLT operated on a budget of close to $200,000, up 25% from 2023. It expects to receive a significant national grant that will cover about half of the cost of a full-time experienced newspaper editor who will reside in Thurston County, giving it the ability to diversify its support. It expects a 2025 budget of about $380,000, $210,00 of which it needs to raise from local individuals.

Compare that to The Olympian, whose budget is estimated at $1,900,000! The Olympian was acquired by McClatchy in 2006, which is owned by Chatham Asset Management, a financial investor some call a hedge fund. As of its most recent reporting, on August 18, 2024, The Olympian had 1,931 paid subscribers to its print newspaper (down from 3,010 on approximately the same date in 2023) and 5,211 paid subscribers to its online service (down from 6,137 in 2023).  

The JOLT as 7,196 subscribers and about 4,500 people visited the JOLTnews.com website.

In November, The JOLT will be participating in 2 matching fund campaigns. From November 4-22, contributions between $1 and $999 will be more than doubled by a combination of national and local supporters.

Please consider contributing to this worthy cause for local journalism.

Look for the Donate button at www.theJOLTnews.com

Be First to Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Next:
The concept of a Soul Cafe is to represent a…