A letter to readers regarding attacks against Planet Princeton and the local press

A central pillar of President Trump’s politics has been a sustained assault on the free press. Journalists are not classified as fellow Americans, but rather “The enemy of the people.” The relentless assault on the free press has dangerous consequences on journalism at all levels, including local news. 

Local journalists such as those at Planet Princeton view our job as a service to you — our community. We live here, and we care deeply about Princeton and Central New Jersey.

We work so you’ll know how elected officials are spending your tax money and what they’re doing in your name.

Journalists talk to people, hunt down documents, and ask questions so you’ll know how school districts, towns, and counties are spending your money.

If the local government wants you to pay more property taxes, we’ll tell you why and how much. If there is illegal dumping at the town’s sewer facility, we’ll uncover it and follow the story. If COVID-19 is in your parent’s nursing home, we’ll let you know what the statistics are and what state government is doing to monitor assisted living facilities.

And if you see a factual error in our reporting, tell us and we will check it out and correct it.

Today, a few of our readers made us aware of attacks against Planet Princeton and the Town Topics on the social media accounts of two Princeton Council members.

In one thread, a resident who has been antagonistic about our reporting for several years and has tried to gaslight us on numerous occasions, who is also the spouse of a former school board member, claims we write positive political stories about secret donors. I want to assure our readers that nothing could be further from the truth.

Planet Princeton is able to report the news because of three main revenue sources — advertising, website/social media consulting, and voluntary subscriptions. Without all of these funding sources, we would not be able to continue reporting. Most news outlets at the local and national level, both for-profit and non-profit, depend on such a combination to keep the lights on, especially since the pandemic hit in March. The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Star Ledger, NJ Spotlight, and numerous other national, regional, and local publications are supported by voluntary subscriptions or paywalls. And many local print newspapers that have historically depended on paid subscribers have shifted to promoting online subscriptions. No one revenue source is enough to support news publishers at any level amid all the changes in the news ecosystem and business model.

Voluntary subscribers in no way affect our editorial decisions, and we make that clear in our policies on our voluntary subscriber page. The average subscription is $10 a month. Our largest voluntary subscriptions in the last six months have been four donations of $500 each from former media professionals who live in the Princeton area and want to support our journalism.

We are hardly getting rich from our “for-profit” enterprise. After expenses, I earn less than $50,000 a year. I’ve been sharing a Princeton apartment with others since I began my local news website in order to save money and bootstrap my business. Fortunately, the last few months, I have received grants to help sustain our reporting during the pandemic, as well as offers of assistance from people who want to help strengthen Planet Princeton’s business model.

At times I’ve questioned the wisdom of my decisions and my judgment when I look at my bank account and consider my lifestyle. But at the end of the day, I feel it has all been worth it because I feel local journalism is a calling and I am doing something that makes a difference in my community. Since the pandemic, local news is more relevant than ever but it is also more strapped for resources than ever as local businesses understandably have had to slash advertising budgets. Many journalists have been working more than 60 or 70 hours a week to keep their communities informed. In late April, I had COVID-19. I was lucky. I did not become severely ill and was able to keep working, though not at the same pace as usual. Over and over the thought kept crossing my mind once I realized I was sick — if I have to be hospitalized, who will report the news?

In these difficult times for all media outlets, our colleagues at the Town Topics have also been under attack for a new editorial policy that does not allow for personal attacks against candidates for elected office. Sentences in letters that are considered personal attacks are edited out. The local primary election has become ugly and contentious behind the scenes. A small group wants to control the outcome of local elections, and candidates are angry that they cannot execute their letter strategy to target their opponent. One council member even suggested that residents should boycott businesses that advertise with the Topics because of the new editorial policy.

We stand by the Town Topics for making its editorial decision. As our society becomes more divided, the local press can promote civil dialogue. Also, letters should focus on policy, not personal attacks or criticism of candidates as individuals. We now moderate comments on our own website before allowing them to be published because of the lack of civility, false information, and personal attacks sometimes found in comments.

Furthermore, let’s face it — letters in support of candidates for elected office are often a farce. Many letters are not written by individuals who want to support a campaign. Rather, campaigns often orchestrate and coordinate letters as a means to generate free publicity about candidates. The letters are often written or edited by a campaign organizer and then a resident is simply asked to sign the letter. Sometimes candidates try to schedule letters so that a certain number appears in a print publication each week or on a news website each day.

Politicians and elected officials of all affiliations will continue to try to undermine and control a free press It is vital that we not allow them, or anyone else, to sever the relationship between residents and the press, especially now, when local news matters more than ever.

Journalists are not the “enemy of the people” and none of us are getting rich reporting.

We are members of your community, and we are working hard to serve you in spite of difficult circumstances.