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Our community, like much of the world, faces an unprecedented challenge from the COVID-19 pandemic. Residents are adjusting to the new normal of social distancing. Schools have closed their doors and transitioned to online learning. Officials wrestle with difficult decisions regarding the scope and extent of government orders. Many businesses have suspended operations or closed entirely. Nearly all have made major changes to how they interact with customers.

The Washington Daily News is no different. As you may have read on today’s front page, we made a difficult decision to reduce print frequency of the Washington Daily News to two editions per week. It was a necessary and strategic response to current circumstances. More than 1,000 newspapers across the country made similar decisions this week, many of them even terminating or furloughing employees in addition to reducing print frequency.

Publishing a printed newspaper is a costly endeavor, from production to delivery. Our ability to do so is driven by advertising placed by local businesses. The volume of that advertising will be diminished significantly for the foreseeable future. In response, we must remain adaptive both now and moving forward.

We chose to reduce our print frequency in efforts to maintain a staff of gainfully employed journalists with continued focus on producing the highest quality news products this market can support. As newspaper men and women, we feel an obligation to provide this to our community. And despite the challenges, our resolve has never been greater.

As we move forward, we ask that you continue to support community journalism in Washington and the Pamlico region. You can start by supporting local businesses. They need our help. We ask that you consider our “We Support Community Journalism” premium rate, if you have the means. If you pay for your subscription month-to-month, we ask that you continue paying your current rate.

Regardless, we will honor any prepaid subscription purchases. That means you will receive the same number of editions you paid for, just over a longer period of time. For example, if you have already paid for three months of delivery from April to June, you paid for roughly 65 editions. You’ll still get each of those issues, only over a period of around six months rather than three.

If you still have questions that weren’t answered here, we want to hear from you. Newspaper staff is working remotely to do our part in social distancing, but we can still be reached by email and telephone, 252-946-2144.

Ashley Vansant is the publisher of the Washington Daily News. He can be reached at publisher@thewashingtondailynews.com.