Thank you readers and supporters: some 200 of you helped us meet our year-end fund-raising goal just halfway through our campaign, much faster than last year, and the contributions are still coming. We hope you’ll keep giving until the end of the month: Readers visit FlaglerLive between 17,000 and 20,000 times a day, much more during times of emergencies (we had almost 50,000 visits the day the tornado struck on Dec. 14). If half of you subscribed at $2 a month, less than the cost of every coffee choice on Starbuck’s menu, you will have a stake in preserving quality factual and fearless journalism for your community.
To say that these are challenging times for journalism and those who practice it is to state the obvious. In Washington and across the globe, leaders are inflaming their faithful by attacking the media, often aggressively seeking to silence journalists who ask tough questions and strive to hold the powerful to account.
But these are especially difficult times for local journalism. According to a 2018 study, some 1,800 local newspapers have closed their doors since 2004, and 200 counties in the U.S. have no local paper at all. This is disturbing for a simple reason: Despite the attention given to national politics and government, most citizens’ first-hand experience with government is at the county, town or village level. Local journalists know their territory, interact daily with elected officials, law enforcement personnel and educators, and understand the intersection of government and business. Without serious local journalism, citizens have no way of knowing what is being done in their name and with their tax dollars; without serious local journalism, there is no one to open a window on the life of a community, no one to document its triumphs and its failures, its heroes and its scoundrels.
Flagler County is fortunate to be among those counties whose citizens have a resource they can turn to for diligent reporting and thoughtful perspective. As a supporter of FlaglerLive you have come to rely on straightforward coverage of everything from weather events to the county courts and government officials. Commentary on issues both close to home and further afield elicit a wide range of reader responses, reflecting a real thirst in the community for informed dialogue and debate.
As a non-profit, Florida corporation, FlaglerLive relies on the support of advertisers and the generosity of individuals in order to stay focused on reporting the news of our county. We are truly grateful for your support as we engage in fundraising that, hopefully, gets your attention while not being overly intrusive! As you and your family make decisions as to which organizations will receive your charitable donations, please keep in mind that there are those who would like nothing more than to have aggressive news outlets like FlaglerLive disappear entirely. With your continued help, that will not happen in Flagler County.
–The FlaglerLive Board of Directors
The Board of Directors consists of Merrill Shapiro, chairman, Aaron Delgado, John Pollinger, Steve Robinson, Cheryl Tristam and Matthew Wilson. See details here.
John says
Thank you
George Revels says
DEAR , PIERRE. And board members , wishing you a MERRY CHRISTMAS , your commanding voice in our lovely community with 20,000 hits a day , and a mere 200 ardent supporters ought to give you a measured response to your self proclaimed rationale for , TRUTH AND JUSTICE
Jane Gentile-Youd says
Am I the only one who often ( yeah – okay- just about every day really) checks in to Flagler Live , with ‘coffee’ in hand before even glancing at my own personal e-mails, etc.
Why? Because Flagler County is my’ adopted’ home since 2002; it is where I spend 90% of my God given precious time on earth ; it is where I depend on just about everything in my life ( except national politics) from the food I eat, to the doctors who keep me ticking, to where I shop, not to mention enjoying the beauty from the farms out west to the glorious ocean nearby. I am a lover of sunlight and just as I plan to celebrate the winter solstice tonight and look forward to longer daylight once again I cannot imagine not having Flagler Live making sure I don’t have to ever live in ‘darkness’ otherwise.
We all should know that our so called ‘ Government in the Sunshine’ is really being mostly ‘government in the ‘shade’ which Flagler Live uses all its might to open the ‘shades’. It would take months for most of us to dig up info that Pierre manages to get his hands on and make available to us in sometimes just minutes! Way back when , before internet, I wrote weekly for a similar home town newspaper, The Hialeah Home News’. The editor, Elmer Rounds and Pierre would have gotten on famously. Like Pierre Elmer made sure the people knew what was really going on and would as he said ‘ smoke em out’. What happened to the ‘Home News’ – it died a slow death because most people really don’t care until an issue hits them smack in the face. As time went on everyone I knew moved away from Hialeah ‘Zoned for Profit’ said the Miami Herald about the time the ‘Home News’ was in ICU.
If I am blabbering on and reminiscing please forgive me; just help Flagler Live as much as you can to make sure it stays alive and well so that we can do our best to keep what is left of ‘ Government in the Sunshine’ in Flagler County. (The News Journal does not make the cut anymore and unfortunately the publisher of the Observer weeds out ‘stuff’ they don’t want us to know) .
Thank you Flagler Live for keeping the light on 24/7. May your light bulbs never burn out.
Happy holidays to everyone and may 2020 be brighter than ever for all of us.
Re-Elect Trump says
We’ve made a donation to the Trump re-election campaigns gn on behalf of Flagler Live, as it is certainly the best place to put our hard earned money to combat the threat of a socialist agenda. I am sure you agree!
Jim O says
well done.
Ritchie says
Thank you Pierre who to me is Flaglerlive for your enlightened, conscientious view on world and local affairs.
It is here that I know about what’s going on around this town.
Keep the lights on!
ken says
We are grateful to have this informative source of local news and events. Reading your political views, however, puts me in mind of getting a blood draw from a nurse. I have to squeeze my eyes shut and endure.
Fredrick says
And a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to Flagler Live and it’s staff of 500. While we are opposite in political leanings I do appreciate the the perspective you provide and the news of the county. Thank you very much!!!
Mike Cocchiola says
Thank you, Pierre and Cheryl. FlaglerLive is a jewel in Flagler’s crown. It is essential to maintaining a well-informed community. I urge all, even the Trumpers, to support FlaglerLive. The Trumpers get a chance to promote their faith in their leader and the rest of us get better informed and educated by the day. FlaglerLive works for everyone.
Have a great 2020.
celia pugliese says
Thank you Pierre and Cheryl for what you do in our community thru Flaglerlive and the Youth Orchestra!! Merry Christmas to you and family and Happy New Year too. Keep up the good work informing the community and teaching those students about the wonders of music.