An editorial – about getting a little help

Posted on March 25, 2014 in Editorials // 9 Comments

TUESDAY MORNING EDITORIAL — You’ll see something new in the upper righthand corner of this page today. It says, “Support the Armchair Mayor” and it has a PayPal Donate button.

You may ignore it or, if you enjoy The Armchair Mayor News, you might consider supporting it with a small contribution, though unfortunately I can’t offer you a boxed set of Ed Sullivan’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Classics or even a T-shirt in return.

After The Kamloops Daily News ceased publishing, I ramped up this blog because I hate a vacuum. The response has been wonderful and I think it shows people want an alternative source of written daily news and opinion.

After website maintenance, support will be shared with the faithful columnists who contribute their thoughtful commentary and stories each week, and maybe we can add some freelancers to expand coverage.

I love doing this. Today I’ll attend council’s budget meeting and later this week there’s the all-important meeting on Stuart Wood elementary school, and I’ll generally keep an eye on the big stuff as much as I can.

I’ve been pleased to “break” quite a few stories since the new iteration of this blog that has grown since early in the year, and have observed that the mainstream media often follow up on what appears first in The Armchair Mayor News.

More and more, when I call sources about news stories, they recognize the name of the blog and regard it as a legitimate news outlet. I appreciate being placed on more media-release distribution lists and encourage businesses and community organizations to email their information to the AM News at armchair mayor@gmail.com.

Still, this is basically a one-person show with help from a few others who do it — as I do — for personal satisfaction and out of a sense of community. We thank you for your support, in whatever form that takes.

— Mel Rothenburger

The Armchair Mayor News

About Mel Rothenburger (11613 Articles)

ArmchairMayor.ca is a forum about Kamloops and the world. It has more than one million views. Mel Rothenburger is the former Editor of The Daily News in Kamloops, B.C. (retiring in 2012), and past mayor of Kamloops (1999-2005). At ArmchairMayor.ca he is the publisher, editor, news editor, city editor, reporter, webmaster, and just about anything else you can think of. He is grateful for the contributions of several local columnists. This blog doesn't require a subscription but gratefully accepts donations to help defray costs.

9 Comments on An editorial – about getting a little help

Richard Carlson // March 25, 2014 at 9:30 PM // Reply

It’s not a donation, it is an investment in our community. Thanks for doing this Mel. I am looking forward to seeing The Arm Chair Mayor News grow and adjust with the changing times.

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Cara // March 25, 2014 at 2:30 PM // Reply

Your blog is awesome, Mel. I love reading it and will most definitely make a donation. I am thankful to have a source of community news that is timely, up to date and that speaks to the issues that resonate with me.

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Bill // March 25, 2014 at 10:21 AM // Reply

And thanks to you Mel, I am enjoying the participation. 2OFC

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Grouchy1 // March 25, 2014 at 9:52 AM // Reply

A round of applause for you Mel. I hope that a lot of people donate to support your endeavors. Times are tight for me right now, but I will click that button when I can afford to. Thanks for the hard work you are putting in.

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- Mel Rothenburger // March 25, 2014 at 6:21 PM // Reply
  
  Thanks, Grouchy. Please keep commenting. Any discussion of an issue isn’t complete without knowing “What Grouchy thinks.”
  
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  - Grouchy1 // March 26, 2014 at 9:57 AM //
    
    LOL ! Thanks for the encouragement, even though I don’t really need it to be a royal pain in your backside.
    
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Sean McGuinness // March 25, 2014 at 9:36 AM // Reply

Thanks Mel for all the hard work you’ve put into this great blog — I don’t know how you do it. Kamloops is a better place because of this.

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Peter Tsigaris // March 25, 2014 at 9:28 AM // Reply

I hope the community realizes the importance of the public service you provide and fully supports this initiative.

This is a classic case of a public good (service). A public good has two characteristics. First, it is non-rival. This means that my consumption of the news provided from the service does not diminish someone else’s consumption. Second, it is non-excludable. This means that it is not possible to exclude someone from consuming the service once it is provided if (s)he does not pay for it. Public goods/services suffer from free riders and hence are difficult to maintain in the long run.

One solution is indeed donations. Another is for the City of Kamloops (local government) to subsidize this important to the community public good/service. You may want to consider advertisements as a source of funding.

Thank you once again for providing such an important public service to the community, It is commendable.

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Kara // March 25, 2014 at 9:24 AM // Reply

I’m really grateful that you’ve “stepped up” in a sense and have helped to fill some of the void that has been left behind since the KDN closure. The fact that I can open my blog reader in the morning and read the most current news before the thrice-weekly paper gets to my door in the late afternoon is a bonus too.

I was talking with a family member about your news blog and he asked about why a source would comment for a blog. I think it helps a lot that you have such a strong name and reputation in the news business – I don’t believe just anyone in Kamloops could start up a news blog and get answers out of people.

Thanks for doing what you do, Mel :)

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