The First Column of the new year seems to be an appropriate time to reflect on what I hope will happen for The Chronicle in the time to come. I have a lot invested here. I have been here since 2012, and that means I have devoted a good bit of the 50 years that I have spent as a Community Journalist to this community. Much more of my professional time was devoted to Newberry - and much less was devoted to places like Bishopville and Manning. But wherever I have gone I have had the privilege to know and write about many remarkable people.
Here is no exception.
So, what would I like to see happen for our small weekly? That’s easy - More Subscribers.
Subscribers are the life-blood of any newspaper. Subscribers (or I suppose the lack thereof) are why Atlanta’s main newspaper doesn’t print any more. They’ve gone to digital, and maybe that’s the way for all of us. Trees are valuable, after all, and destroying them for paper, well, maybe that hasn’t been mankind’s smartest idea. In any event, that is a philosophical question way beyond my brain power.
I just want people to be informed.
I just want people to read the What’s Happening calendar that we publish on Page 4 of each issue and, perhaps, find an event they would like to attend. My worst nightmare is hearing people say, “Oh, heck, I would have gone to that if I had known about it.” You’re not going to “know about it” without just a little bit of effort on your part.
We really -- and I mean, really - would like a sponsor for the What’s Happening calendar. A real designer could come up with something better, but I could envision YOUR ad streaming across the bottom of the page - every single week, 52 weeks a year - with valuable community information sitting on top of it (I’ll even compile it). Community information like - What are the offerings of the new and vastly improved Clinton Public Library; When is the dedication for the upscaled Clinton Fire Department sub-station (that your tax dollars paid for, btw); and What is the Laurens Electric Cooperative (LEC) Community Initiative Impact Grant.
Truth is, we would like MORE information to be in What’s Happening. That’s why we publish info at the bottom of the page about how you can send us your Community and Church news (hint: news@clintonchronicle.net) for free publication. Better yet, we would love to print your community-event flyer in the newspaper for a nominal fee -- You would get more exposure, we would get a little boost to our bottom line.
Every subscriber, every advertiser helps Clinton have a community newspaper - and, in that, we are not special or unique. In communities all over the world, journalists are doing the work of being “the first draft of history.”
I’ve been thinking about this (i.e. what is a newspaper?) a little more lately as I was hanging up clothes. You see, our little newspaper is trying to meet people where they are, and that means sponsoring the Holiday Relief Supply Drive that you see in the ad on the adjoining page. Our community partners are helping us, and we’re looking to transition this effort into the new year and, perhaps, beyond. So you see, your subscriptions help us not only cover the news, but maybe give someone just a little boost, just a little hope. Can’t we all use a bit more of that.
Vic MacDonald is Editor of The Clinton Chronicle. June, 2025, marked his 50th year as a community journalist in South Carolina, following his graduation from Newberry College. Reach him at 864-833-1900 or at: news@clintonchronicle.net
