As part of a general agreement with other interested stakeholders, the Talbot Spy has agreed to discontinue bugging their readers for their annual donation, effective at midnight on October 25.  

The planned cancelation of the campaign was a clear indication that many readers, many of whom read the Spy daily, would rather not be bugged to contribute to this extremely local news and arts education project. 

Talbot Spy editor Dave Wheelan agrees with the decision. “While one might say that the Talbot Spy is in the business of bugging its readers with important public affairs and the arts, we understand that our annual request for support, like all fundraising these days, is exhausting for all involved, but so important for the community.”

That said, Wheelan quickly pointed out that there are two more days to donate before the campaign shuts down. Electronic donations can be made here. 

For quite a few years now, this publisher has silently stewed over reading in national publications about the crisis of “local news” coverage. The source of irritation is not the subject itself. There is, indeed, a real problem with communities, large or small, losing critically important newspapers of record at a time when news is so vital to our form of government and quality of life. I am grateful for that kind of attention to a big problem.

No, my beef is the term “local news” itself. A case in point: the nonprofit Baltimore Banner has rightly been hailed as a role model in saving “local news.” But “local” in Baltimore’s case means over 1 million people in a metro area. It’s understandable why “local” is defined that way, but it’s hard to compare that major million-dollar enterprise to the mission and scale of something like the Talbot Spy.

The Spy has always considered itself in the “hyper-local” category, a minimal subset of a major, more significant movement in large cities across the country. Tiny by circumstances and capacity, these primarily rural online publications are typically just squeaking by with writers (many of them volunteers) and low budgets.

After almost 14 years, I’ve concluded that “squeaking by” as a business model falls into the category of good enough. With the Talbot Spy realistically limited by market size and geography, this public education nonprofit will always be a bit broke.

It also will be highly dependent on the goodwill of a relatively small number of sponsors and readers who know the importance of local news and its direct impact on their community’s quality of life.

To make the Talbot Spy work every year, we have to pay those writers and editors who need to be paid for their work. It also means covering the growing costs of a high-traffic web presence, small office spaces for interviews, and other basic business costs. Or roughly some $35,000 a year.

As its publisher, I am proud of that relatively low budget number. The Talbot Spy was never built with continued growth in mind and potentially divert needed philanthropic support to our sister nonprofits with far greater needs.

And the Spy is proud that we are making it work with the active inclusion of covering the arts and culture. While several online nonprofit news organizations are doing well in covering local government, the Talbot Spy is a unique model in that it provides equal coverage of local arts and local culture.

In many ways, the goals of the current Talbot Spy are similar to the purpose of the original Chestertown Spy in 1793. In short, it’s to keep the lights on.

Three times a year, we ask our readers to help “keep the lights on” for the Talbot Spy. Whether donating $10 or $1,000, we must count on your support to keep this labor of love a vital, relevant part of the greater Talbot County community.

To donate, please go here.

Dave Wheelan
Publisher and Executive Editor