Mobile newsroom is Aug. 22

A little while I ago, we shared that we were making changes to our entertainment and comics content. I know it’s been a while, but things have moved slowly in discussions with the national companies that provide this content.

This content was purchased from two companies, one of which received the bulk of the subscription dollars that pay for the installments. That company, over the course of several months, didn’t return any of the phone messages and emails we sent to discuss that account.

The second company, although we were a much smaller account for them, offered to help in any way they could and opened discussions about content options.

We’ve decided to move forward with this company. This is a move that will allow us to increase content options while reducing costs to about 25% of our previous plans. That estimate was done before new rate increases were announced recently by some of the providers.

I want to stress this is a move that helps us preserve local jobs. This equates to almost a full-time position over the course of a year. In a world of increasing production costs, while trying to also provide costly health insurance options and other basic benefits to staff, this is a move we need to make.

Starting next week, you’ll see the same, but different, comics page. It will have crossword, horoscopes, comics and a relationship column, but they will come from a new provider.

We won’t have Baby Blues, but we will have Heart of the City and Thatababy. We won’t have Sherman’s Lagoon, but we will have Reality Check and DeFlocked. We won’t have Dear Annie, but we will have Sense and Sensitivity by Harriette Cole.

I know a lot of people, like myself, have followed Annie and Sherman for a long time. It’s something I’m fond of too. I’ll miss them.

But I hope you’ll come to enjoy the new content just as much. I hope you’ll give it a chance. Because we really do want to give you the best news and entertainment we can.

The new page will add an almanac quote and number of the day, and will include nine comics, to the previous page’s seven.

At the suggestion of a reader, the horoscopes will be for a day ahead of the print edition. These will be Astro-Graph by Eugenia Last.

The new service has not allowed us to bring back the weekend color comics, unfortunately. But we are able to get some additional content through this service that we hope to make a regular part of the paper in the coming weeks. Now that the new service has started, we’ll be able to make those decisions and will update you on those going forward.

We also have an additional entertainment page included each Saturday in our online eEdition.

We’re going to hold some mobile newsroom events in the coming weeks and part of that will be helping people learn about the website and how to access the additional digital content. Every print subscription includes full digital access.

Our first event will be from 3:30-5:30 Aug. 22 at the Ridgel Branch of the Poplar Bluff Municipal Library. The library has a computer lab there with multiple stations and has generously offered this space for the event. The branch is located at 3398 Kanell Blvd.

We can set up digital access during this event, show you what is available through the website, help you set up bookmarks and favorites to make accessing it easier, and reset lost passwords (because I know I’m not the only person who can never keep track of those).

We’re also holding a drawing for a tablet. Everyone who attends will be entered to win. Everyone who attends will also get one free month of digital access. If you have an existing subscription, the equivalent of a month of digital access will be applied to your subscription.

I want to thank everyone for their patience during this change and ask for a little more patience as we make the transition next week.

If you have any questions, please let me know. I will do my best to help.

And thank you, sincerely, for reading the Daily American Republic and supporting community journalism.

Donna Farley is the editor of the Daily American Republic. She can be reached at dfarley@darnews.com.