Sun, Citizens Journal to merge

After many months of careful thought, inspection and consideration, we have decided to merge the Atlanta Citizens Journal and The Cass County Sun. It is not a decision we took lightly. In fact, over the last few months, we have done our best to avoid having to do so. Once COVID-19 hit, community businesses closed which have hampered our advertising efforts. Many of our advertisers that have remained open for business have put a freeze on advertising which has made it difficult to maintain the operation of two newspapers. Even though we have seen an increase in subscriptions over several weeks, as well as dramatic increases in our website traffic and social media, we have been forced to take this step.

All said, not much will change. Customers who are getting a paper will continue to get a paper. The name of the new publication will be Cass County Now which is the name of our website. Under the new name, we will continue to keep the namesakes, Atlanta Citizens Journal and The Cass County Sun, to help preserve history. We will continue to serve our advertisers by making arrangements that will best meet their needs. You should not see a decrease in news, but likely more quality content from around Cass County and individual communities.

By combining the papers, we can take advantage of the economies of scale. Doing so presents significant savings in printing, distribution, and other operational costs. It should be noted that we will still have a designated reporter for the Linden area as we do now. I believe this change will better serve all of Cass County, which will allow advertisers to have a broader reach and readers to get all available local news in Cass County.

We are still working out a plan for what to do for those customers who get both newspapers. Right now, we, like many of these businesses, are having to figure it out on the fly. COVID-19 took us all by surprise. We will find a way to offer those customers the means to fulfill their investment with the new paper.

From a historical perspective, we are saddened by this decision. However, we are excited about the new way forward. We believe the Cass County Now name represents the direction in which we are moving which incorporates both digital and print media.

You may have noticed that we are posting more stories on our website, sending out email alerts, and have become more active on social media. In the future, you will see us involved in video streaming and a further-expanded digital presence.

So your hometown newspaper isn’t going away, it’s just changing. While we know change is hard for many folks, we will be doing our best to make sure Cass County Now delivers more local news than ever before.

We sincerely appreciate your understanding but if you have questions, a story idea, or other suggestions, please send it to me at shawn@casscountynow.com and I’ll respond as quickly as possible.