While the West Essex Tribune’s regular readership will not notice any changes to this week’s issue (other than a larger page count), some are picking up our paper for the first time. This week’s edition is what we in the Trib office call a “TMC,” which stands for Total Market Coverage. It is the first of four newspapers this year that we will send to every residence in Livingston, whether or not you subscribe. So for those who are new, allow us to tell you why this paper is worth reading as you wait for your coffee to finish brewing.
We who make the Tribune are so proud to represent a town that values community reporting, and we do our best to be an essential part of your weekly media diet. While there are many other places to get news on a state and national level, no other newspaper exclusively covers Livingston. We cover the Township Council meetings, highlight local residents, and provide updates on what is happening in our schools. We make sure no appointment, resolution, or budget goes unchecked. If there is a national story, we will tell you how it affects Livingston.
Sadly, we are far removed from the days when every town had a newspaper to call its own. But in Livingston, residents can still stay up-to-date on everything happening with a quick flip through the Tribune. Just this week, all you need is a copy of the Trib to learn about the latest Township Council, Board of Education, and Zoning Board meetings, along with all of Livingston’s other ongoing matters. You never have to risk missing a local event. You can learn about the latest fundraiser run by the township’s many community service organizations, and be the first to know about the newest business openings.
We take the pulse of the township and put it in our pages. In recent issues, this has meant covering the installation of a new Council member, the retirement of some long-serving police officers, the latest winter weather, an equity audit in the school district, and the passage of new housing ordinances. We publish your letters and announce your events. On our Facebook page, we let you know about road closures, power outages, and changes that may affect your commute as they occur, and then follow up on them in the next edition of the paper. In all, we do our best not to miss a thing in Livingston and highlight what makes this township so special.
We take great pride in being the hometown paper of our more than 30,000 residents, and in being an integral part of Livingston since 1929. We are also proud to be one of the only remaining independent newspapers in New Jersey. We do our best to support the residents of this town, and in return, they have supported us right back when it mattered most; we would not have survived the early days of the pandemic without the community rallying around us. We are still standing because Livingston appreciates what we do here, a fact for which we are extremely grateful.
That support is essential to keeping the engine of this newspaper running. A community paper does not approach its 100th anniversary without the backing of the community it covers. For that, we are appreciative of everyone who has picked up a Tribune, whether you subscribe and read it weekly from cover to cover, or buy only the issues featuring friends and family to cut out and save the relevant articles. So to our loyal subscribers: thank you for valuing community news. And to our new readers: welcome to your community newspaper. We hope you like what you read, and decide to stick around, and support community journalism.
Whoever is reading, we are sincerely grateful that you are taking the time to thumb through this paper. We work very hard to deliver Livingston’s news to you and we hope it shows. The Tribune is here to serve you, so please let us know what you would like to see in the newspaper. Call us at 973-992-1771, email [email protected], or stop by the office at 495 South Livingston Avenue.
We also hope that you will consider helping us as we continue to convert into a nonprofit newspaper, a move we announced late last year under the umbrella of the Corporation for New Jersey Local Media (CNJLM), an organization that is dedicated to preserving local newspapers. We currently have an ongoing fundraising campaign as we transition into becoming a legally nonprofit news source. We hope to have more to announce in the coming months about this exciting step forward in the nearly 100-year history of the Tribune. In the meantime, we hope that you will consider a charitable, tax-deductible donation, which can be made by: visiting CNJLM’s website at https:// newsweneed.org/a-new-era-livingston/; or mailing a check made out to CNJLM with “West Essex Tribune” in the memo line to P.O. Box 2031, Morristown, NJ 07962.
Thank you, as always, for reading and for your support. We’ll see you soon, hopefully in warmer weather!
