Today begins a new era for us in the ever-changing world of local print newspapers. We will now operate our newspapers (The Westfield Leader and Union County HAWK) under one banner of The Leader.

We believe that this change will be of benefit to you because we’re doing something vastly different than some of our larger brethren who have consolidated their publications over the years – we are keeping the entire reporting staff. We remain committed to bringing you the local reporting you have come to rely on with coverage of government meetings across our seven towns, our award winning in-depth investigative reporting and the best local sports section in Union County. Under one banner, you will now never miss a story from your neighboring towns, something many of you made note of over the years – and we no longer have to guess what you think might be important for you to know – instead, you’ll get it all.

This is largely being done for cost saving purposes as the prices of postage, newsprint and aluminum (on which newspaper plates are made) are continually rising; and as we face the uncertainty of legal notice revenue early next year. Be assured the majority of the cost savings are being addressed internally as we streamline backend operations.

We are also raising the price of our subscriptions to $60 per year (just $1.15 per week) and $2 on the newsstand (yes, it will still cost you less to have it delivered to your mailbox). If you previously subscribed to both newspapers, we have added the time to your subscription and all subscribers now have digital access to the archives of both newspapers at goleader.com.

Print media and local news continue to struggle nationwide, but here we continue to have a strong subscriber base, with the vast majority of you still wanting to hold a newspaper in your hands each week, and we remain committed to deliver that to you. We are incredibly grateful to you all, and to our advertisers for continuing to make our tradition of excellence possible.

Lauren S. Barr
Publisher