Editorial

Whoever first uttered the words, “no news is good news” obviously didn’t work in the news business. No news is the bane of a news writer’s existence, and this time of year, the first week into January, is prime “no news territory.”

The topic of slow news weeks isn’t a new one and has even been discussed in the pages of the New York Times, specifically how they prepare for the January dry spell early. Of course, they have the staff for it.

It’s no secret why it occurs. The holiday times are filled with a rush of events, festivities, photo opportunities, park lightings, parties, and joviality. But afterwards, reality comes crashing down and people get busy getting back into some sort of semblance of a routine. No one has the time nor the energy to make news.

I am reminded of a conversation I had with our sports correspondent, Jami Townsend, a few days ago. I grumbled how news is either feast or famine. Since our launch in May, it’s been quite a feast, but for someone, like Jami, who has spent the last couple weeks covering nonstop high school tourney play and games, she couldn’t commiserate. “It’s been all feast here,” she told me. I can only imagine. She has written continuously for days, and we are lucky to have her.

But over on the news side, it’s slow going. That’s not to say that any day we won’t soon be inundated with stories once again. The Kewanee Area United Way has already sent us an event, but events are so few that I was forced to remove the Community Focus section from our homepage, at least for the time being. You might have noticed that section, which features local events and fundraisers, has been replaced with a sports heading. Sports stories are still plentiful.

After the holidays, every single event in Kewanee that was posted on the community section had already occurred and needed to come down. The problem I struggled with was what to put in those five vacant spots. But Community Focus hasn’t gone away; it’s merely taking a short vacation. For now sports coverage will appear in its place, and once local events pick back up, I will add another row for them.

News is percolating around town. The Kewanee Hog Days committee has been at work for months planning the next festival, but in January is when things get serious. School boards and city council meetings will commence soon and in spite of the current state of affairs, The Kewanee Voice is moving ahead.

One good thing to happen is the lull in news has allowed us to refocus on the website and some changes and additional website features are on the horizon- changes I hope our readers enjoy. We have a meeting with the president of our website design firm next week to discuss our possibilities.

It’s also made me wonder if now wouldn’t be a good time to add a weekend column that features a recipe from a Kewanee resident. A new recipe and its backstory could be published each week, along with a photo of who sent it to us. What do you think? People have asked about it, but since our inception, news has come so fast and furious, it’s been hard to contemplate adding anything more to our plates. But our plates look a little empty. Maybe some delicious food is just what we need.

Publisher Mike Berry and I are also teaming up to collaborate on a series of articles about an issue that is important to the community. We will announce more soon, but to go along with that series, we are in the process of planning The Kewanee Voice’s first public forum on the issue and are working out the details. It will be the first of many in-person public forums we hope to hold.

We are also at work on another readership survey with questions designed to see what coverage we are lacking that you want to read. Or maybe there is coverage of topics you want to see less of. It will be your opportunity to tell us.

And it won’t be long before one particular nonprofit news organization will be celebrating its first birthday. I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but you are all invited to the party. Look for more details about that in the coming months.

So things are moving forward and I guess rather than complain about slow news days, I should use it to take a deep breath and maybe relax. It’s just that after eight months of full-on activity, I find that hard to do.

Please don’t forget, we always welcome story ideas from our readers. Do you know of someone interesting that we could profile? Are you holding an upcoming event? (Send us a flier so we can bring Community Focus out of mothballs.) Do you have a business that you would like to learn more about? Do you have a recipe that we might feature? Send it to us at news@kewaneevoice.com.

The news business really is feast or famine, and I have no doubt that the famine part isn’t going to stick around for very long. Thanks for reading and thanks for all of your support, kind words and encouragement. We wish you all a very happy New Year and we are excited to provide you with all of the news you need in 2024.