Newsletter makes way for internet

November 21, 2001
Paul Ryder, Ohio Citizen Action

The issue of Citizen Action now at the printers will be the last.

The publication began as the Public Interest Report in 1976, in the middle of the disco era and long before the world wide web had been spun. It has grown up under its three principal editors: the late Ed Kelly, who launched it; Laura Yeomans, who changed it to a magazine format, and Angela Oster who lifted the design and editorial standards. Its recent expansion to 24 pages and 4 colors was made possible by Stephen Engelbach, who introduced advertising to the publication. And its distribution list rose from 4-figures to 5-figures to 6-figures due to the articulate energy of Ohio Citizen Action’s field canvassers.

In July 2000, the national Hudson Bay network of canvassing organizations gave Oster and Engelbach a Special Award for Publication Excellence for their work.

So why change? Because, for an organization with the word "Action" in its name, the newsletter has become obsolete. No matter how beautiful the photos, design, or cover page artwork, a mass-produced newsletter cannot help being dated by the time the first copy is in a subscriber's hands. It can report on past events, but not about the present or the future.

Meanwhile, there’s a new invention that allows us to communicate today’s news today, and tell members how they can help make tomorrow’s news. Combining e-mail and the world wide web, we can send bulletins to participating members immediately, at little cost to the organization or the members. The brief e-mails will tip you off that there’s news available; if you want to learn more, a simple link to the website will give you all the information you could want.

When it started, the internet was for computer-types and the wealthy. Now, just a few years later, most Americans have access to it, and the fastest growing groups of internet users are older, low-income, and minority Americans. By now 115 million Americans regularly use the world wide web, according to the latest figures from Neilsen/Net Ratings. The growth rate is still a strong 15% a year, and web use just jumped by 4% in a single month -- between October and November, 2001.

This is why Citizen Action has decided to retire the newsletter and put as many resources as possible into developing internet communications.

For those who don’t use the internet, we’ll still be in touch through door-to-door canvassing, phone canvassing, mailings, meetings, and news reports. We’ll also begin publishing an annual report for members at the end of every year.