The past year has brought plenty of changes to organizations of all kinds and all sizes and The Longmont Leader is not immune. On March 1, the ownership of The Leader will be transferred to Village Media.
The Leader was started in May as part of The Compass Experiment, which was created through a partnership between the Google News Initiative Local Experiments Project and the McClatchy Co. The original plan for The Compass Experiment was to launch three locally sustainable news properties; however, the dramatic market changes over the past two years led to a resizing of the project to include only two newsrooms — Mahoning Matters in Ohio and The Longmont Leader.
While the goal was to emulate our partners, Village Media, the project quickly discovered the challenge of recreating Village Media’s output, growth and revenue options without a network of resources.
Two weeks ago, The Compass Experiment announced it is pivoting “to continue a path toward sustainability,” Mandy Jenkins, general manager of The Compass Experiment, wrote in a blog post. The path toward sustainability for The Longmont Leader includes becoming part of the Village Media family, while our sister paper, Mahoning Matters, will be operated by McClatchy’s news division.
Village Media operates numerous local news and information sites throughout Canada. It places a heavy focus on community by valuing local stories by local journalists. Additionally, it supports the community by recognizing local achievements, helping to promote local businesses and supporting local events and charitable causes.
What does this mean for Longmont?
The changes seen by the public should only be positive, with the potential for more local coverage as more resources and support become available from the Village Media network.
While those supports are being put in place, The Leader’s website, newsletters, contributions and social media accounts will remain the same throughout the transition. There is no need for readers to register for anything new. The way contributions are managed also will remain unchanged.
The Leader has worked with Village Media since it launched. Our website and other systems were already being supported by Village Media, which will make for a seamless transition for readers and contributors.
The biggest changes will be felt by The Leader’s staff as they say goodbye to The Compass Experiment’s core team of Jenkins, Shay Totten and Emily Dressler. The Leader’s staff will remain on board to continue local coverage.
Change isn’t easy and the last year has seen more than most would like, but this change to The Leader should be positive for the organization.
