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Newspaper still exists

Posted on March 20, 2008 by Staff

Proprietors say it’s full speed ahead

After a year of producing The Carrboro Citizen, Robert Dickson and Kirk Ross, publisher and editor, respectively, and owners of the newspaper, said Thursday that the enterprise is going strong after a year. Thanks to a loyal and growing readership, The Citizen is now the most widely read weekly publication in town.

With distribution of its press run of 5,000 papers expanded now to more than 90 locations (see list on Page 8), The Citizen is picked up by more than 3,000 people within the Carrboro town limits alone. Additional distribution expansion has increased readership in Hillsborough, Pittsboro, Southern Village, Meadowmont, on campus and throughout downtown Chapel Hill. The Citizen also maintains home-delivery service to 160 households.

Dickson said that distribution through voluntary pickup by readers seems to be resonating with local advertisers.

Since inception, more than 189 businesses and individuals have purchased display advertising with The Citizen and 164 more have bought classifieds. In addition, The Citizen has contributed roughly $17,000 in advertising to local nonprofits and charities.

Revenue has grown steadily and The Citizen now has a staff of three full-timers and six part-timers. The paper has also offered an educational experience to 11 interns over the course of its first year and published dozens of stories and photos from aspiring journalists studying at the university.

The Citizen recently expanded its standard issue by two pages to 12 per week with an additional two full-color pages. Printing of the paper is now done by Triangle Web, allowing for an earlier-morning start to its Thursday distribution schedule.

On the editorial side, the paper has produced more than 2,000 stories and this spring will reach the one million-word mark.

Scores of local residents contributed stories, letters, comments and photos over the past year. Standouts include Ken Moore, who has written 53 articles and contributed more than 120 photos on native plants and conservation; Phil Blank, who has contributed a weekly pen-and-ink drawing since June 21 of last year; and Valarie Schwartz, who has penned 31 columns on people and service organizations in our community since starting in late August.

Ross said traffic to The Citizen’s website has built over the year as well, with an average of more than 800 individuals per day visiting the site. Weekly page views now exceed 7,000 per week with the majority of traffic coming from the local vicinity.

By policy, The Citizen’s web archives are free and open to anyone, without registration.

2 thoughts on “Newspaper still exists”

  1. BrianR says:
    March 21, 2008 at 9:03 am

    Congratulations! I know the Citizen will be around for many years to come. LISTEN UP world! The newspaper is alive and well! :)

  2. John Kramer says:
    March 21, 2008 at 12:07 pm

    Carrboro Citizen is by far the best newspaper in the Triangle. Keep up the good work!

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