Roby Lane Kelley
Editorial Assistant

If you’ve read my bio, you know two things about me that are important to start this article off with. First, I worked as a producer in broadcast television for a year before quitting to pursue reporting. Second, I’m a college student just beginning my final semester at the University of Missouri – Kansas City (UMKC). This background tells you that I worked in for-profit media before Northeast News and that I’m broke.

Before joining Northeast News, I felt the media I was producing was accessible. While I don’t have cable in my own home, I do have (somewhat) reliable internet, so I could watch live streams or clips of shows on my phone or even read the articles on my laptop.

When I left corporate news, I realized that all I was doing at work was following political journalism. And any good journalist will tell you that all journalism is biased – no matter how hard we try to stay in the middle.

Since we don’t cover much political journalism at Northeast News, it was now my job to find journalism that I believed was reliable and unbiased. I grew up in a household where my mother was known for seeing “both sides” of every argument, no matter how small, so I thought I would be proud to look at media from both sides.

However, this was promptly thwarted when most outlets were locked behind a paywall. I’m glad I have access to the internet to even find these outlets, but the Wall Street Journal has a 250-word article seriously worth a month’s subscription, equivalent to the price of an egg. FYI, up to this sentence it was just over 260 words.

As a college student with a human and a dog with human-like intelligence—and the picky nature of a toddler when it comes to food—I can’t afford a paywall, even at “just” a dollar a month.

So where do we find free, reliable media? Nonprofit newspapers are a good place to start, and the staff at Northeast News genuinely care about the people around them. I’m not just saying that because I’ve been invited to stay.

When I started, Micheal Bushnell took care of this wannabe reporter, and I mean he really took care of him. I felt like I would never be able to report because of my service dog, and he told me he would personally make sure I had the same access as every other reporter in the city. My new boss, Julia Williams, wants to publish monthly pieces in the print edition on issues like affordable housing and water access. These are not actions by people, by public officials, who just come in to get their paycheck and then call it a day.

But how can we maintain free access to this newspaper? How can we continue to produce a weekly newspaper when there are few print editions in journalism at the national level? I have some opinions on this subject and I thought I could shed some light on the matter with my knowledge of what goes on behind the scenes.

First, it is never “free”. We rely on advertising to continue to print and produce our newspapers. We rely on sponsorship, but so does the commercial media. I can tell you from experience that the commercial media performs similar functions.

The difference is that Northeast News, like many print newspapers, offers media and information to the public – no ifs, ands or buts. It’s not free IF you pay for a copy of the newspaper. It’s not free IF you need cable or Internet access first.

This newspaper works hard. We are trying to serve this community we have all grown to love. As a reporter who wants to continue to serve this community, I ask that we come together to help each other. Keep this media-free. If I have to, I will send Georgia (my service dog) out to collect money from advertisers.

So my final question and opinion is: what can we do as a media company to better cover the North East? I think we need help. Tell us what you want us to cover and we’ll get it done. I can’t guarantee everything will get the result you want, but it will be a source. Take, for example, the affordable housing spread that Julia and I did together. As a house hunter, I absolutely hated that article – but sometimes the best information is the one we least want.

I challenge every reader to write down something they would like to know more about. If you like my work, you can drop your suggestion in a box I provide in the paper. I will do my best to cover your topic with the utmost journalistic integrity and give you free answers.

I ask you to write down the topic you would like information on – and, if you would like, to arrange an interview with me on that topic, along with your contact details. Please note that any interview with me will involve Georgia, my very real (unlike Inky) service animal.