With the increasing cost of printing these days, it becomes a real challenge for our Pinoy publishers to publish community papers that will keep our Kababayans informed about what’s happening in their locality.
The costs of the papers, ink, and labour keep increasing; the only option left to these paper owners is to appeal to local businesses owned by Filipinos to advertise in their newspapers.
The advent of multimedia platforms makes it doubly hard for publishers to develop their papers’ hard copies, the “normal way” to publish newspapers.
Have you noticed that some community papers are getting smaller and thinner? That’s the only way to reduce printing costs.
These papers solely rely on advertising for the needed revenues to stay afloat in the business,
We need these community papers to keep us informed about what’s happening in the community, help us stay connected as a people, and air our concerns.
But it’s understandable that when we review these papers, most of the news we find there has been lifted from newspapers back home.
As a people, we seldom get involved in controversies. We are here in Canada to make a living and support our families and relatives in the Philippines; we are more focused on working, free from life’s stressors.
Browsing these papers, we find stories and photos about our social life—mini-reunions with some friends, get-togethers, birthdays, and wedding anniversaries.
But if a considerable controversy confronts us, we can be confident that our community papers will be our mouthpieces in addressing these issues and concerns.
Our local papers need the support of the whole community, especially those businesses owned by Pinoys, to continue serving the community.
One way to help these local papers is to put ads in them. Local businesses need the papers’ exposure through advertising to let our kababayans know what kind of businesses and services they offer.
Word of mouth alone cannot establish a local business’s presence in the community. These local firms, big or small, need to know what products and services they are rendering and selling in the community.
These advertising placements on these papers can be of excellent service to people looking for the services of real estate brokers, car dealers, insurance agents, lawyers, dentists, doctors’ offices and caregivers.
Even the routine search for plumbers, electricians, motor vehicle mechanics, small appliance maintenance specialists, and wedding photographers can be a cinch if these people place ads in the local papers.
Let’s support our local community papers—they need us.
