EDITORIAL: The Weekly at 63 (10/13/96)

EDITORIAL

The Weekly at 63

At the 1994 convention of the Ukrainian National Association, The Ukrainian Weekly's editor-in-chief was proud to announce: "Four years ago (1990), I reported to this quadrennial assemblage that the number of subscribers to The Weekly had risen from 6,400 to 8,700. Now I am most pleased to report that the number has surpassed 10,000 and stands at about 10,500."

Now we're back down to pre-1990 numbers in terms of subscribers - some 8,200. It seems many of our readers no longer need or want The Weekly. Why? Well, there have been a few readers who did not like something in The Weekly (like the gentleman who complained that we ran a brief review of a book titled "Chernobyl" and canceled his subscription because of the way that book transliterated "Chornobyl"), but those are few and far between. For the most part, the feedback we've gotten is that the Weekly just costs too much.

Too much? Members of the Ukrainian National Association pay $40 per year, while non-members pay $60. That's 77 cents per issue for members, or $1.15 for non-members (whose subscriptions are not subsidized by our publisher, the UNA). Sixty dollars per year - that's the cost of dinner for two at a fine restaurant. Surely our readers value a weekly newspaper that provides news about Ukraine, the Ukrainian community in North America and elsewhere around the world, and about international developments that affect them and their kinsmen. Or do they?

A subscription to The Weekly once was a huge bargain. From 1988 to 1994 it cost only $10 per year for members, or $20 for non-members. The 1994 convention voted to increase the fees to $20 and $30 effective that year in July and to phase in two more increases in the next two years, in 1995 to $30/$40 and in 1996 to $35/$50. However, due to harsh reality - a 19.3 percent increase in the cost of second-class postage plus a substantial increase in the cost of newsprint - the General Assembly had to revisit the issue of subscription prices. Thus, in July of last year the rate was increased to $40 and $60 - a 200 percent increase over the 1994 rate.

After the 1994 convention we had expressed hope that our readers would accept the necessity of raising our subscription fees in view of the value of our paper. After the steep price increase that came in 1995 we again asked our subscribers' indulgence: "We hope you will understand why it was necessary to raise the price of The Weekly - especially as we have continued to provide more and better service to subscribers." [In 1993, the number of pages in the paper was increased from 16 pages per issue to 20- and 24-page issues; the Kyiv Press Bureau was opened in 1991 and the Toronto Press Bureau in May 1995.] We pledged "to continue to do our utmost to serve you and our community," and we promised that we would "maintain and improve The Ukrainian Weekly with your continued support."

Now that support has dwindled, gravely threatening The Weekly. Dear Readers: We are now turning to you for help. It really is up to you. If you value The Weekly and want to see it live on, please support the paper by continuing to subscribe and by promoting it among your family, friends, colleagues and others. If we all made an effort to entice at least one subscriber each, we could not only get the number of subscribers up to the 10,500 it was a little more than two years ago, but we could greatly surpass that figure.

The Ukrainian Weekly, which turned 63 years of age on October 6, has grown and matured into a newspaper for all generations of Ukrainians around the world. And, it is no longer just a diaspora paper, but is widely read by non-Ukrainians interested in Ukraine and Ukrainians, be they scholars, politicians, businesspersons or journalists, be they in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia or in Ukraine. With your help, dear readers, The Ukrainian Weekly can continue to serve those in our community and beyond.