In response to unprecedented economic challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Harlan Enterprise will begin publishing once a week on Wednesdays after Saturday’s edition. Daily news coverage will continue to be delivered at harlanenterprise.net, which has seen record traffic in the last 30 days.

The Enterprise, like every newspaper in the world, has seen a sharp drop in print advertising in recent weeks as non-essential businesses are closed and events are canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As of Thursday, nearly half of American newspapers had reduced their print frequency or had immediate plans to do so, according to a survey of publishers by Cribb, Greene & Cope, a newspaper brokerage firm.

Paid advertising makes the printed newspaper viable. When our advertisers’ businesses are either shut down entirely or severely restricted in their operations, twice-weekly print publication becomes difficult to maintain.

We will be busier than ever covering the story of our lifetimes and all of the other news that continues to occur in Harlan. The sharp increase in audience on our website and Facebook page (@HarlanEnterprise) shows that our readers are consuming news online more than ever before. Reducing print frequency enables us to better serve our readers where they are ― on their smartphones, tablets and computers ― and allows our news team to focus its efforts on providing news online as it occurs.

Print subscribers will receive the newspaper by mail on Wednesdays, and copies will continue to be sold in sidewalk newsstands and retail outlets. Pages will be added to the weekly print edition.

Obituaries will be published online upon receipt from funeral homes and published in the next print edition.

The cost of a print subscription will remain the same, as we hope that our subscribers will continue to pay their current rate to strengthen our hometown newspaper during an unprecedented economic challenge. Subscribers who have already paid in advance will receive the number of issues they paid for, just over a longer period. For example, if you paid for a year of delivery, you will still receive 104 issues, just over two years instead of one.
If you have subscription-related questions, email us at circulation@harlanenterprise.net or call 606-573-4510.

We remain committed to covering all of the news surrounding COVID-19 and how we recover as a community from this unprecedented pandemic. In these uncertain times, we are as committed as ever to serving you, and sincerely appreciate your trust and support of the Harlan Enterprise. It is because of readers like you that we are still here today and able to do our part in a time of need.

In order to deliver content you enjoy, feel free to submit writings and pictures from out in the community to us via our website under the “Submit” tab. We challenge ourselves to be a well-rounded, diverse newspaper for our readers to cherish and share with each other.

We will get through this together and stronger than ever before. Thank you for choosing your hometown newspaper.