EDITORIAL: What if it disappears? (03/31/96)

EDITORIAL

What if it disappears?

You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone. Indeed.

Last week's issue reported on the most recent meeting of the Ukrainian National Association's Executive Committee, which reviewed the financial status of the UNA and its various operations. As regards the UNA's two newspapers, the Ukrainian-language daily Svoboda and The Ukrainian Weekly, it was a classic good news/bad news scenario.

Though there was good news to report in terms of the funds coming in from subscriptions - a 145 percent increase in 1995 (as compared to 1994) for Svoboda and 75 percent more for The Weekly, there was bad news on the number of subscriptions. For Svoboda, the number had declined by 1,240 during the period from February 1995 to February 1996, while for The Weekly there was a loss of 1,063 subscribers. Not very reassuring figures. At a time when worldwide interest in Ukraine is increasing, our own Ukrainians, it seems, are not interested.

The reason for the decline, at least in the case of The Weekly, we believe can be found in the fact that last year our publisher, the UNA, had doubled subscription fees. In fact, we have quite a few letters on hand stating that the price is too high (one reader called it "outrageous") or that it is unaffordable, especially for those on fixed incomes. Unfortunately, we cannot do as one reader suggested and reconsider. The reality is that costs have risen markedly, especially in terms of postage and newsprint, and what is a remarkable is not the 200 percent price increase last year, but the fact that the subscription fee was kept artificially low for so many years.

We ask you, dear readers, to consider what dinner for two costs you nowadays. For that same price you have The Weekly for one whole year. (Perhaps you should think of The Weekly as dinner for your mind - a weekly outing that costs you $1.15, or 77 cents if you are a member.) Is it worth the price? We believe so. Just think of the stories you have read in The Weekly in the past year? How many of these would you have seen elsewhere?

So, dear readers, we ask you, please value what you have. And, if you could, please do us a favor, use the best and oldest form of advertising - word of mouth - to spread the word about The Weekly.

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