EDITORIAL: A necessary follow-up (05/21/00)

EDITORIAL

A necessary follow-up

Last week's issue of this newspaper contained the report of the Ukrainian National Association's Auditing Committee, which had just completed its review of UNA operations for 1999. The report provided some information about The Ukrainian Weekly's financial status and its current projects, but the key word here is "some."

In keeping with our policy of being open with our readers, therefore, we have decided that some elucidation and amplification are in order - particularly on financial issues. The Auditing Committee noted the following: "The deficit of both [UNA] publications for 1999 totaled $246,000 (of that amount, Svoboda's deficit was $54,000)." So, of course, that meant the greater part of the total deficit - $192,000 - was The Weekly's. Right? Well, not exactly. And here's where the clarifications are needed.

First off, let us note that during 1999 the two newspapers' budgets were not yet completely separated; therefore, there was good amount of estimation and extrapolation that went into determining who was responsible for what expense and related issues. At a recent budget meeting some of those estimated figures were revised, but the reports submitted to the Auditing Committee did not reflect those reductions to The Weekly's expenses. Nonetheless, we must acknowledge that the figures for 1999 for The Weekly are not good. There are several reasons and they were discussed in editorials of October 3 and 10, 1999; we will not repeat that information.

However, in case our readers think we are not concerned about our financial situation, we would like to share the following.

The Ukrainian Weekly in mid-April sent out letters to persons and institutions that have been receiving complimentary subscriptions to The Weekly for many years and for various reasons. The truth is that, while we value continued contacts with these recipients, we simply can no longer afford to bear the more than $20,000 burden of funding their subscriptions. We await responses and expect that many of these recipients will opt to pay for their subscriptions rather than lose them.

Besides these gratis subscriptions, still at issue, as far as the UNA, our publisher, is concerned, are the subscriptions provided as a community service to members of the U.S. Congress in an effort to keep them and their staffs informed about issues of concern to Ukrainian Americans and about developments in Ukraine. With a 1987 decision by its Supreme Assembly, the UNA had decided to start these subscriptions and to fund them, but since 1996 the cost has come out of The Weekly's budget.

Letters seeking outside funding for these subscriptions will soon be mailed to various Ukrainian institutions and organizations, the argument being that The Weekly is an invaluable source of information for U.S. legislators and that it is in all of our interests that they continue to receive Weekly subscriptions. To be sure, we could easily cut about $27,000 out of our expenses by simply halting this congressional perk - if we believed that was the thing to do. But we don't. Our staff continues to feel strongly that The Weekly, as the most significant English-language Ukrainian newspaper, has a responsibility to our Ukrainian American community and that providing decision-makers with the unique information contained in The Weekly is our duty.

In an effort to increase our income at The Weekly we are publishing a two-volume book titled "The Ukrainian Weekly 2000." We now charge for our "Preview of Events" section, and we have introduced two special paid advertising sections to boost income - the "Wedding Announcements" section and a forthcoming "Congratulations, Graduates!" section. We are working closely with our administration, advertising and circulation departments to increase income, attract new subscribers and cut expenses. As well, we have turned to our readers. It is gratifying to see so many of them responding by contributing to The Ukrainian Weekly Press Fund.

To conclude, the financial situation is improving and will continue to improve. And to you, dear readers, we say once again: If you value this newspaper, please contribute to The Ukrainian Weekly Press Fund; advertise and encourage others to advertise; and help us expand the number of our subscribers.

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