Plenty of people thought Seven Days wouldn’t last longer than its name. When Pamela Polston and I founded an arts-focused altweekly in 1995, we were journalists — not publishers — going up against a Gannett-owned daily. Was there room in our small city of Burlington, Vt., for another newspaper?
Indeed there was.
A quarter-century later, Seven Days is Vermont’s largest newspaper. Every Wednesday, 35,000 copies are distributed throughout two-thirds of the state as well as Plattsburgh, N.Y., across the lake.
With a team of talented journalists and editors, the paper still provides smart arts, food, and culture coverage, but it also covers local news and politics, both in print and online.
Last year our reporting led to the resignation of Burlington’s police chief and Vermont’s corrections commissioner. The paper’s collaboration with Vermont Public Radio on a series about state-supervised eldercare facilities — which included a searchable database built by our data editor — won a regional Edward R. Murrow Award. A yearlong probe into the state’s opioid crisis made national headlines in 2019 and contributed to a shift in Vermonters’ attitudes about addiction.
Seven Days has earned numerous general excellence awards from NENPA and the Vermont Press Association. One judge dubbed the paper “the New Yorker of the North.” Three of its editors were inducted into the New England Newspaper Hall of Fame.
And then came the coronavirus pandemic.
For the past 25 years, Seven Days has depended almost entirely on advertising and events revenue from local enterprises to finance its newsgathering. Since March, COVID-19 has severely challenged that business model. Almost overnight, revenue dropped by 50 percent. The paper’s own events — including Vermont Restaurant Week and the Vermont Tech Jam — were canceled.
And yet the demand for our product has never been greater. We’ve seen a surge in web traffic and steady pickup rates for the print papers, too. Outside of Burlington, Vermont is a largely rural state where cell service and broadband access can be unreliable.
Our veteran staff rose to the challenge. They pivoted instantly to working remotely. Reporters, editors, photographers, and video journalists scrambled to cover the unfolding crisis — and many joined our leadership team in taking voluntary pay cuts.
Readers came to the rescue, too. Pre-pandemic, we had a couple hundred paying “Super Readers.” Today roughly 1,400 have contributed more than $135,000 to keep Seven Days afloat.
They understand the value of trusted local news, especially now, when it’s easier than ever to create and spread mis- and disinformation. And when responsible journalism is disappearing all around us: Since 2004, more than 2,000 American newspapers have ceased publication, according to Margaret Sullivan’s new book, Ghosting the News: Local Journalism and the Crisis of American Democracy. That trend has accelerated during the pandemic.
Seven Days is now owned by myself and 16 of our longtime employees, all of whom share a deep commitment to maintaining our vibrant community and to sustaining our high-quality local journalism.
Can you help us during this difficult time with a financial contribution? Become a Super Reader through our website, sevendaysvt.com, or, with a click of the “donate” button above, make a tax-deductible contribution through the Local Community News Fund of New England.
We welcome and appreciate your support.
Paula Routly
Publisher and coeditor
