By John T. Ryan
The Peru Gazette recently celebrated its third anniversary. Our first story about a town board meeting was posted on September 4, 2008. During the past year the Gazette has been visited 37,174 times by people from every state and from several countries. New York readers made over 28,000 of those visits followed by Vermont, Massachusetts, Florida, Virginia, California and Arizona. Readers made 71,639 page views. It seems that even former Peruvians want to know what’s going on in their hometown.
Interest in the Gazette seems to grow each week. More and more organizations are sending us news releases and an increasing number of people are connecting to us via Facebook.
This growing interest would not be happening without the cooperation of Peru residents and institutions. All the folks at the Peru Town Hall, our local churches, and community organizations have been 100% cooperative. School Superintendent A. Paul Scott always extends his cooperation and overwhelming courtesy.
The Peru Gazette owes a special debt of gratitude to Don McBrayer who covers almost all the Peru Town Board meetings. This publication was established to cover town government and our coverage wouldn’t be possible without Don’s skills. Adele Douglas and Joanne Kennedy also contribute stories and/or photos and they are very important to our success.
Our online newspaper is an experiment in citizen journalism. It was established with the premise that every level of government should have a reporter at every meeting. We believe that the basis of our democracy depends on a free press whether in print or digital form.
The Peru Gazette has far more potential than realized to date. If more volunteer writers were willing to cover local events, especially those related to youth activities and education, we could attract many more readers and serve the community even more. Our contributors don’t need vast experience. We look for fundamental writing skills and a commitment to providing fair, objective coverage of local events. Please email me at editor@perugazette.com if you are interested in contributing stories to the Peru Gazette.
Thank you one and all!
