Why You Should Subscribe to The Journal Times

http://news.racinepost.com/2008/12/dtente-jt-needs-your-help.html

Dustin Block, former employee of the Journal Times and founder of the Racine Post, argues in the above article that the Racine community should support the Journal Times financially because of Lee Enterprises' dire economic straits and the possibility that it and/or its newspapers could go belly up. I have to agree that the thought of Racine without a daily newspaper is not a pleasant one. The Journal Sentinel's coverage of Racine has been spotty at best, even when they had a local bureau. In other words, the Journal Times is just too big to fail in Racine.

Mr. Block's primary suggestion is that more people subscribe to the newspaper in order to provide a cash infusion. I applaud that idea. If you can afford it, subscribe to the Journal Times. Perhaps you should consider giving subscriptions to the Journal Times as holiday gifts this year. I know that at the JT Irregulars, whenever we put up the Festivus Pole and start the Airing of Grievances, the Journal Times plays a big part. I would subscribe myself but for the fact that I already receive a daily paper via my mother's subscription. I don't need that much fish wrapping material.

There are other ways to raise money for the Journal Times, too. First, I recommend that Lee Enterprises' CEO beg Congress for money. There certainly is no shame in doing that during these tough times - look at the Big 3 - and I always like to see people who are paid annually more than five times what the average person makes in a lifetime explain why we should give them our money. Perish the thought that maybe an executive making millions and millions of dollars should have his or her salary anchored in economic reality. In any case, it's worth a shot. The current administration is on its way out and apparently is giving away the store. Time to line up for the handouts.

There are other options. I've done some soul searching and I've decided to ask my fellow Irregulars if they might consider digging deep into their pockets so that we might advertise our site in the Journal Times. I'm not sure what print or online ads cost, but if we pool our resources, perhaps we could give a boost to the Journal Times' bottom line while also promoting our own peculiar form of insanity. After all, when you think about it, we are the bastard children of the Journal Times, and maybe we owe our parent something. A full page ad for the JTI is definitely preferable to more scams about Amish heaters and the like.

Or how about an adopt-a-JT-employee plan? Put all of the Journal Times' employees names into a hat and then draw them out for select sponsors to help. You could provide a Journal Times employee with lunch or dinner once a week, or maybe chip in for a warm winter jacket or snow boots or whatever else he or she might need. The possibilities are endless. Set up bell ringers outside of major retail stores to solicit donations for the Journal Times. A bake sale, maybe. Or we could stage a benefit, like the Thoughts for Food event. Put some bands on a stage, get everyone drunk, and watch the money pour in. Perhaps a telethon on Channel 25. At the very least, the Journal Times should put a donation box in their lobby. We can't help them if they're too proud to ask.

Whatever happens, I don't want to lose our local daily newspaper. It's as much a part of Racine as Danish Kringle, North Beach, and corrupt courts. We need the Journal Times to provide our community with a sense of identity. Me and almost all of my trolls agree on that.