What's free – and what isn't
Hi there,
Have you ever called a plumber to fix your leaky toilet – and found one who would come right over and fix it for free?
Have you ever gone grocery shopping, filled up your cart with everything you needed – and then just walked out without paying? Ever needed an attorney to handle a complicated business matter and find one who decided to invest a couple dozen hours right away on your behalf without charging you a cent?
Probably not. Because when you need or want a product or service, you pay for it – except when it comes to local news.
At the Henrico Citizen, we’ve never charged a cent for anyone to read any of our coverage in our nearly 21 years of existence. We believe access to trustworthy local news is a basic human right.
But just as none of those other businesses can survive without revenue, neither can we.
The work we do costs us money – an average of about $221 for every original article we write. (Last year, we wrote more than 550 of them, in addition to publishing more than 2,600 other briefs, event listings and news items).
Quality journalism is important. It informs. It connects. It separates fact from fiction.
In short, it matters. But it also takes time and resources. And the future of local journalism requires a local community invested in it.
Will you help us continue to do this important work?
Join our new membership program (with benefits!), the Citizen Collective, or make a general contribution today.
All the best,
Tom Lappas, publisher
