Dear readers,
My former colleagues at VTDigger have been kind enough to let me join in their year-end drive.
As a founding editor of USA Today, I’ll try to be brief and get right to the point.
We need your help.
Our nation’s local news ecosystem is in serious distress, including here in Vermont, where a recent UVM study showed that 75% of the positions in the state’s newspaper businesses have disappeared since the year 2000.
As editor of Vermont’s largest daily nearly 40 years ago, I oversaw a newsroom of roughly 60 reporters, editors, photographers and support staff. Today, that news outlet lists an editorial team of just six.
After a lengthy stretch at USA Today in Washington, I returned to Vermont seven years ago and joined VTDigger as a senior editor, inspired in part by its visionary founder Anne Galloway and the nonprofit’s important role in rebuilding and energizing the local news landscape.
Now in its 15th year, the digital news site reaches more than 450,000 readers a month — a number that stretched to nearly 1 million when VTDigger became the go-to place for crucial information during the Covid 19 pandemic.
Its groundbreaking investigative and accountability reporting — combined with its reflection of diverse voices and views from throughout the state — stand in stark contrast to the flow of untruths from unreliable social media sites that erode public trust in our democracy.
This work has generated major national awards — including one for a series that prompted the Vermont Legislature to expand financial disclosure requirements for its members, and another for extensive coverage of the catastrophic floods of July 2023. The latter was notable not only for its aggressive on-the-ground reporting but for alerting Vermonters about what was on the way, how to stay safe and, in some cases, how to get state and federal assistance.
In addition, VTDigger also received more than a dozen regional awards this year.
Awards are nice — but what we value most is the recognition we receive from our members, including the hundreds we hear from each year with news tips that often lead to reporting that makes a difference in our state.
Unlike many other digital news sites, VTDigger does not operate behind a paywall. The content is free — but it’s not free to produce.
Now helping student journalists at the University of Vermont, I no longer work at VTDigger — but I still work for it. I hope you will join me in our effort to keep Vermonters informed and engaged.
Thank you.
Jim Welch
Former senior editor, VTDigger
