EDITORIAL: The time has come to change our digital model

Rio Rancho Observer readers will notice a change when they visit our website, rrobserver.com, beginning Monday, Sept. 9.

After reading 10 articles in a month, readers will be asked to pay for a subscription. Don’t fret too much — the monthly fee ($4 per month or $48 per year) is less than a latte at your favorite coffee shop and includes weekly home delivery of our print product.

We realize that this may not be a popular change, but it’s one that is necessary for our survival.

The Observer has held out for several years — probably close to two decades since newspapers around the nation have switched to this model — but the reality is that we cannot continue to give away our product for free.

While all members of our staff are passionate about what we do, we are also a small business fighting for survival in this tough economy. We take great pride in what we do and strive daily to put out a great product. However, in order to continue this service to our community — and hopefully expand and improve it — we need to ask our loyal readers to step up and help support local journalism.

As we move forward with this change, please remember that local journalism is key to a thriving community. We keep you appraised of what’s going on with your city council, schools, county commission, legislators, businesses and more. We also tell the unique stories of your neighbors and keep you informed of community events.

The model we have implemented, we feel, is a good compromise for our readers. Allowing 10 stories before the paywall prompt still provides access to vital news of the community while still supporting a local, family-owned business.

We appreciate all the support our readers consistently give us, and we hope this change won’t be too much of a burden for you and that you continue reading.

To subscribe, click the subscribe button on our website, rrobserver.com. Further questions can be addressed to editor@rrobserver.com or to customerservice@rrobserver.com.

Thank you for your support for the past 50-plus years, and we look forward to being your local news source well into the future.