Change is a funny thing.
It can be exciting and terrifying. Unexpected and foreseen. For the better and for the worse.
It’s been a year-and-a-half of change throughout the world. And The Daily Herald is no different.
When the COVID-19 pandemic wrapped its fingers around Snohomish County last year, the change was sudden and staggering.
The Herald joined many local businesses in fighting like hell to keep the doors open, and one of the unfortunate outcomes was a reduction in the sports staff. With sporting events locally and around the country halted last spring, longtime sports editor Kevin Brown and six other valued colleagues were furloughed and ultimately laid off.
The sports pages were moved into the main section of the newspaper and the number of pages were cut down to reduce costs. The outlook looked bleak.
But with the aid of members of the community, partnerships with local businesses and dedicated leadership, The Herald’s doors did, in fact, remain open. And today we continue to see incremental growth and change that gives us hope for the future.
Our digital audience is growing like never before, while our print readers continue to be a vital part of our foundation.
And in the midst of the many changes has been my promotion to full-time sports editor.
As a 10-year veteran of The Herald sports department, a longtime Snohomish County resident, a lifelong sports-page addict and a believer in the importance of local journalism, I’m uniquely qualified to lead this sports team into the future.
And what does the future hold?
Well, in a way, that’s up to you.
I believe that interaction with the community is vital to providing local news coverage. After all, the stories we tell are your stories.
I want to hear your story ideas. I want to hear your concerns. I want to hear your feedback. I want to hear the good news and the bad. The only way to give readers what they want is to know what they want.
Our focus has and always will be on Snohomish County and the people and teams who reside here. Providing hyper-local content allows us to connect with readers in a way larger newspapers can’t.
My goal, our goal, is to provide journalism that means something to our readers. Whether it’s a feel-good story about a local athlete, or following up on reports of racial taunts at a high school basketball game, that goal never wavers. Though the sports staff is small in comparison to previous years, the dedication to our readers of myself, and writers Nick Patterson, Zac Hereth and Cameron Van Til, never wavers.
Together we can continue the upstanding tradition The Daily Herald has of providing quality local sports content. Together we can make a difference. Together we can keep local journalism alive.
Can you imagine Snohomish County without The Daily Herald? I sure can’t.
You can contact Chad Davis via email at cdavis@heraldnet.com or sports@heraldnet.com, or leave a voice message at 425-339-3470.
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