DAR positions itself for future

Some people collect baseball cards. Others enjoy antiquing for license plates from another state. Some collect coins.

I used to collect newspapers from communities outside the area where I lived and worked. I enjoyed reading about their community, looking at the layout, and seeing how much advertising they had.

My love for newspapers didn’t start when I entered the business in 1980. I was hooked when I started reading the Indianapolis Star about my Indiana Hoosiers and Cincinnati Reds. High school basketball — better known as Hoosier Hysteria — also caught my attention as a youngster.

There was — and still is — something special about holding a newspaper in your hands and reading about your favorite sports team, what your city council did the night before, or about volunteers who make your community special.

My newspaper tradition continues today, but I don’t always put a few quarters into a paper box and pull out a copy. Instead, I scroll through websites or look at front pages on a website that contains hundreds of newspapers from the U.S. and around the world.

I’ve accepted the internet has changed our world in many ways. Some good, some not-so good. Social media is a great source for information. But it can also be a cesspool at times, and not contain all (or even true) information about a subject like a newspaper story will.

Banks have converted to allowing customers to do many things on their websites. Looking for a new home? There’s a good chance you’ll scroll through some online listings along with looking at the newspaper’s Homes magazine before jumping in your vehicle and physically taking a look. Need a new or used car? You’ll probably check online and the newspaper for a deal.

In short, we live a lot of our lives online.

Newspapers joined the digital age in the 1990s, and by the early 2000s, many had vibrant websites that offered all the same information that was in the printed edition. Through the years, our digital platforms have become more popular.

Including the Daily American Republic’s site — darnews.com .

Starting next week, the DAR will continue its tradition of delivering news five days a week with our websites and eEditions. We will also transition to printing our physical newspaper three days a week. The new schedule will be Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

One of the main reasons for the change in our print schedule is costs. Since the pandemic, prices have skyrocketed for newsprint, ink, gasoline and postal rates. In short, producing the physical newspaper costs more.

If we didn’t make this change, we would need to substantially increase what we charge our customers for advertising, inserting into our paper, and the cost to subscribe to our newspaper to keep pace with our increase in expenses.

We’ve increased our rates over the past two years, but we couldn’t go high enough to offset our additional costs. Not producing a printed newspaper two days a week will help us continue providing the DAR to our customers.

Our employees have been working tirelessly the past couple of months to find ways to save on expenses. We found some, but not enough. I promise those efforts will continue.

How people look for and consume their news and sports has changed over the years. It used to be newspapers were the go-to (and only) source for local, regional, state, national and international news. The internet has changed that model.

If you want news about the upcoming presidential election, what’s happening in Ukraine or the Middle East, you probably turn to your favorite national TV news channel or check out their website. There are many options for getting that type of news.

But when it comes to Poplar Bluff, Butler County and the surrounding counties, you won’t find the news or sports you’re looking for on those national TV news channels or websites. The DAR is still the place to turn for in-depth news and information concerning our local communities.

The past five-plus years, the DAR has taken the approach of being hyper-local. Our goal is to focus on our local communities. Be a cheerleader when needed, deliver tough news concerning government agencies when needed, be there before, during and after natural disasters, and share uplifting and encouraging stories of the many great people who live in our community.

That won’t change!

We will continue to deliver our news five days a week on our website, and oftentimes seven days a week as needed.

DAR Editor Donna Farley, who has been with the newspaper almost 20 years, recently researched several of our newspapers with the hopes of the data she uncovered proving today’s hyper-local approach.

She surveyed the first seven newspapers of July 1994, 2004, 2014, and 2024.

In 1994 and 2004, the DAR ran about 20 pages daily. In 2014 it was 16 pages on average, and in 2024 it averaged between eight and 12 pages.

A byproduct of the hyper-local strategy has been less pages are needed. Fewer state, national and international news stories mean fewer pages and a savings on production costs. But it didn’t mean fewer locally produced stories.

Donna’s research included counting DAR-produced stories in those seven editions in July.

The results:

• 1994 — 44

• 2004 — 38

• 2014 — 52

• 2024 — 48

These numbers only include stories produced by a local reporter. If you add all the other local news, including obituaries, police/court news, honor rolls, business news, church news, and editorials and columns, that number of local stories is much more.

Our commitment to our readers is to continue to deliver the same amount (with a goal of doing more!) of local news and sports five days a week with our digital products, and three days a week with our print product. All local news will appear in our print AND digital products. So, no one will miss anything.

We will be offering more comics in the Thursday and Saturday eEditions, and Further Reviews (full-page graphics highlighting special occasions).

We understand not everyone is well-versed on using our website on a computer, phone, or tablet. We want to help you become better at that.

Earlier this month, we conducted an event at the Ridgel Branch of the Poplar Bluff Library to show our subscribers how to navigate our website. We also helped them set up and bookmark the DAR on their homescreens of their phones, iPads and tablets.

We will conduct more similar events soon.

An encouraging sign from the event was the age of some of the people who attended (over 80), and already knew how to use the website. They didn’t realize all the many features available, but they knew how to access it and read stories.

We set up the DAR’s website on their cell phones to act as an app. One person said, “So I can read the newspaper anywhere I go?” She was happy to be able to follow local news no matter where or who she visited.

The DAR is a locally-owned business with a commitment to its customers and employees. To continue doing what we do, we must find ways to keep our business healthy for future generations.

The DAR may be privately owned, but we understand it’s been around since 1869 and belongs to the community. It’s the community’s voice when it seems like community members aren’t being heard. It’s there to inform about how our tax dollars are being spent. It’s there when the local basketball team plays. It’s there during natural disasters to help inform. We were there during the COVID pandemic to help keep everyone safe.

That will continue five days a week on our website, and through our three print publications.

Thank you for reading the DAR. We appreciate you trusting us to keep you informed.