The Mountain Eagle has survived as a voice of honesty and integrity in the Kentucky mountains for 113 years despite challenges that destroyed many other businesses.

Through natural disasters, economic upheaval, and man-made catastrophes, The Eagle has been screaming for eastern Kentucky and Letcher County in particular since 1907.

It survived the Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918, the Great Depression, and the 1957 flood that ravaged the region just a week after my parents, Tom and Pat Gish bought it. It survived the Asian Flu Pandemic that same year and the next, and an arson fire in 1974 that left our offices gutted.

Our paper has survived the out-migrations from Central Appalachia in the 1940s and 50s, the fight for strip-mining regulations in the 1960s and 70s, and the economic crashes after 9/11 and in 2008. In 2015, the economy here became even worse when the coal industry collapsed and unemployment soared, and we are still here.

Like many other businesses, newspapers across America — especially small family-owned community papers like ours — continue to take a huge financial hit as the COVID-19 crisis moves from the near-total shutdown of our economy to the steps necessary before a full reopening can occur.

While it seems like forever ago, it was only on Friday, March 13, that people across the nation and here in Kentucky reacted to news of the growing coronavirus crisis and the unexpected cancellations of large public events — in our case the Sweet Sixteen high school basketball tournament and the SEC and NCAA basketball tournaments — by emptying shelves at grocery stores and other outlets.

Shockingly for us, it was only three days later — on Monday, March 16 — that we at The Mountain Eagle were notified by the vast majority of our local and national advertisers that all of their ads were being cancelled until further notice, as they too were affected by the store closings and other sudden changes the pandemic brought.

As this current crisis continues and our county, state and nation take the critical steps toward recovery, the importance of timely, accurate and helpful information is particularly significant, especially in small communities like Letcher County. We at The Mountain Eagle pledge to continue to provide the award-winning journalism we have long been known for as one of the nation’s most honored weekly newspapers, but we can’t do it without your help.

While we continue to be thankful for our readers who have already helped support local journalism by graciously buying new subscriptions or by extending existing subscriptions, we are happy to announce that for the first time in our long history we are now in position to accept tax deductible donations to support COVID-19 reporting, thanks to our partnership with the Local Media Foundation.

We appreciate the opportunity to continue to serve you and thank you for your support.

Ben Gish
Editor and Publisher
The Mountain Eagle

The Mountain Eagle - COVID-19 Local News Fund is a program administered by Local Media Foundation, tax ID #36‐4427750, a Section 501(c)(3) charitable trust affiliated with Local Media Association. LMF is raising funds for educational activities; specifically, to educate the public on COVID-19 issues. LMF is providing funds to this news organization and many others to support this important educational project. All money raised by this effort will go directly to support COVID-19 reporting, to make sure the public has essential facts on this important topic.

The Mountain Eagle - COVID-19 Local News Fund

Give to support The Mountain Eagle as we cover the coronavirus crisis in our communities.