Schaumburg: Daily Chronicle thriving, not dying

I spent the past two days in Springfield at the Illinois Press Association’s annual convention.

On the drive downstate Thursday, I was thinking about how exciting a time it is for the Daily Chronicle.

You see, the death of newspapers has been greatly exaggerated. Newspapers aren’t deceased. They are evolving into news and information companies. Some are doing better than others. And there is no better example of that than the Daily Chronicle.

On Friday, the Daily Chronicle won the James S. Copley Memorial Trophy for the second consecutive year in the IPA editorial contest, making us the most-decorated small daily newspaper in Illinois.

That accomplishment is a testament to the hard-working staff dedicated to producing the best newspaper it can six days a week, 52 weeks a year. Our goal is to make the Daily Chronicle an indispensable part of living in DeKalb County by providing the news and information you need to live your life here.

We aren’t naive enough to think that we are so good at what we do that we can’t get better. There are stories that fall through the cracks. There are stories we wish we could get to sooner. We do the best we can with the resources we have. And it feels good to be recognized by our peers for it.

However, you also play a large role in our success. Your feedback offers us opportunities to examine how we do things and make them better. You provide news tips – whether through phone calls, email or, more recently, Facebook. Most importantly, you read the Daily Chronicle in print and online and turn to us for the news you need.

And recent statistics and market studies suggest more of you are reading us than in the recent past.

As of March 31, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, the Daily Chronicle’s Monday-Friday print circulation grew 7.79 percent compared to March 2010, and the weekend edition’s circulation grew by 8.65 percent.

A market study conducted in January by Customers by Design concluded that the Daily Chronicle in print, over seven days, reaches 57 percent of market adults. The same study said the Daily Chronicle overwhelmingly was perceived as the market’s leading local news source, topping all other newspapers and electronic media, including radio station WLBK.

Online, Daily-Chronicle.com eclipses 1.25 million page views each month, according to data provided by Google Analytics. Page views from April 2008-April 2011 have increased 35 percent.

We all can share in the success of the Daily Chronicle. Because of you and a dedicated staff in many disciplines at the Daily Chronicle, the newspaper is thriving. Not dying.

• Jason Schaumburg is editor of the Daily Chronicle. Email him at jschaumburg@daily-chronicle.com. You can follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DC_Editor, interact with him at the From the Editor’s Desk Facebook page or check out his blog, From the Editor’s Desk, at Daily-Chronicle.com/blogs.