What Is The KP News' Mission?

I have followed with interest a number of comments on Facebook addressing the conundrum of whether or not this newspaper should provide a forum for people to voice their political points of view (“March Sadness” and “March Meaning,” March 2017).

While Facebook news is unfettered by fact-checking or an editor's due diligence, the Key Peninsula News tries to print opinion columns that are civil, informative and accurate.

But are they relevant?

The last time the KP News decided to run stories about other than specific KP events, its revenue dried up and it went out of business.

Years ago, the team who ran the paper thought that it should be a platform for anything local, regional or national that could affect the people on the Key. In doing so, they lost virtually every advertiser they had and many readers. After losing money for months, the KP News was shut down by its parent organization, the Key Peninsula Civic Center Association, in August 2002.

I happened to be on the civic center board at the time and told them I had newspaper experience and that I feared leaving the paper down too long might permanently damage or destroy the franchise.

The board agreed and we put together a team to resurrect the paper. With financial help from the Angel Guild and other donors, the first edition of the revitalized KP News hit the streets in February 2003, with new editor Rodika Tollefson at the helm.

There’s only one question in my mind: What is or should be the mission of the KP News? I know from personal experience what worked. And it was not to provide a 9,000 circulation monthly forum for off-peninsula discussions. I say let The New York Times, the Seattle P.I. and my old employer, the News Tribune, go out of business doing that.

The KP News was healthy sticking to strictly KP news and as one of its parents, I hope like heck it will prosper.

Bill Trandum

Vaughn