It’s a sad, cliche but universal truth: the COVID-19 pandemic has upended life for everyone in some capacity. At The Post, we’ve felt that impact in more ways than one.
While dealing with the shift to online classes and coping with the many changes to campus life, Post staffers have continued to report, edit content, take stellar photos and more. Some reporters produced election results stories in 2020 despite being miles away from Athens. Others even took home awards. Throughout all of this, it’s been the communities — both in our newsroom and across Athens County — that have kept us afloat with unwavering support. Last week, we learned of yet another example of that community grace.
APG Media of Ohio President Mark Cohen is sponsoring The Post’s Ohio News Media Association, or ONMA, membership for the year, which will give us access to countless resources, the ability to enter our work in contests and more. At a time when money and resources are tight for just about every local publication around, we at The Post could not be more grateful.
We fully recognize APG owns some neighboring papers, including The Athens NEWS and The Athens Messenger, and this kind gesture serves as a reminder that journalism is not a competition but, rather, a team sport. With this resource, The Post now holds the potential to take our coverage of Ohio University and Athens a step further, helping improve the local media landscape in Athens County.
Garnering community support fuels our ability to serve as watchdog reporters as well as provides greater mentorship possibilities for young journalists and new interns. Several Post and OU alumni have gone on to have successful careers and internships at APG papers. Having a place for experiential learning at OU — like The Post — allows us to better train journalists who will continue to be employed in Southeast Ohio. Even though there is so much already apparent, we know there are other incredible opportunities with this support that we have yet to discover, too.
We know APG Media of Ohio doesn't owe us anything. We know it's been a tumultuous year and a half for just about everyone. That's why we're going to make the most of it and pay back this gift the way we know best: by continuing to work diligently to report the news that matters to our community. Thank you, APG.
Editorials represent the majority opinion of The Post's executive editors: Editor-in-Chief Abby Miller, Managing Editor Bre Offenberger and Digital Managing Editor Matt Geiger. Post editorials are independent of the publication's news coverage.
