One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
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An Open Letter From SCPR's President
SCPR headquarters in Pasadena.
(
Jon Cohn/SCPR
)
When I arrived at SCPR in February, I knew the journalism was good, and that the station had an excellent reputation. But during the last nine months, I have come to deeply appreciate all the work you do to provide Southern Californians with excellent, in-depth local news and programming.
We’re in a strong position. We now have a meaningful digital footprint on LAist.com and on demand. This positions us better for growth and greater public service.
To get to where we need to go, we need to reallocate our spending in some areas. These moves will allow us to double down on innovation and get in front of softening economic factors.
Today we are announcing a realignment that will allow some changes in our staffing going forward.
In the past, when we’ve needed more money, we have taken funds from the marketing budget. But that’s come at the cost of telling our own story and raising awareness about our public service.
Growing our audience is critical to our sustainability and marketing plays a key role.
And for those reasons we’ve had to make some difficult decisions.
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We’ve done so with an eye towards protecting our ability to do the kind of original journalism we want to be known for, and to continue to provide robust local programming on air and online.
These decisions are never easy. We value the work of the colleagues whose positions are being eliminated.
Sincerely,
HS
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
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