5-12-2024 12:17am

Surviving in Georgia

Beth Callahan Editor

WARREN COUNTY, OH -- Since the day after Christmas, I have mostly been living in the Atlanta Georgia Area to help my daughter and her husband with their first child and my first grandchild. While everything went well for a healthy baby... thank God, the parents have encountered some situations where they have needed help… kidney stones and a loss of a job and now a move back to Ohio at end of this month. (Yeah!!! On the move back to Ohio.)

During this time, my goal has been to try and get at least one article a day out about Warren County while I’ve been gone. And, I owe a huge THANK YOU to several people and organizations who have helped keep the WarrenCountyPost.com alive by actually writing pieces or sending me videos to be published while I’ve been here.

Organization such as Warren County Park District, Dave Woehr of Friends of Warren County Park District, Scott Hall from Hall Around Town, Megan Becker from Warren County Development and Disabilities, Congressman Landsman’s Office, State Representative Adam Mathews Office, Peggy Darragh-Jeromos Franklin City Schools, Sheila Baker from Carlisle Schools, Shelly Abrams from Warren County Community Services Feelin’ Good, Deborah Kemper from Carlisle Council, Columnist Guy Pasvogel, Game Day Communications along with several others.

I also want to thank all the admins from the schools, cities and townships that send their agendas. I just have not had the time, especially while being here, to cover them. This brings me to…

Journalism is Changing

Warren County does not have its own newspaper like its surrounding counties...

Montgomery County has Dayton Daily News, printed six days a week (Sunday through Friday) and a digital newspaper available every day.
Hamilton County has Cincinnati Enquirer delivered to homes six days a week, with a digital newspaper available every day.
Butler County has The Journal-News, which is still available for home delivery seven days a week, with a digital newspaper available daily.
Greene County has The Xenia Gazette that is published twice per week with a digital paper.
Clinton County has the Wilmington News Journal print two days per week (Wednesday and Saturday) with a digital paper available.
Clermont County has The Clermont Sun a weekly paper that is also digital

While these media sources do cover happenings in Warren County, Warren County readers do not know which paper is going to cover a Warren County story until the paper is published… this leaves Warren County residents with the task of subscribing to 6 different papers to find their local news.

What About Social Media?

Yes, there are several social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Whats Up, You Tube, Twitter (X ), TikTok and a few others. But social media has its challenges too...

Not everybody does social media — According to recent estimates from backlinko.com the number of active social media users in the US is 246 million in 2023, meaning 72.5% of Americans are on social media while 27.5% are not.
Not every one uses the same social media — According to a Pew Research Center survey of 5,733 U.S. adults conducted May 19-Sept. 5, 2023, most Americans (68%) report using Facebook. Additionally, roughly half of U.S. adults (47%) say they use Instagram. Pinterest users is at 35%, TikTok is at 33%, Linkedln is at 30% followed closely by WhatsApp at 29%, Snapchat has a 27% usage while Twitter (X) and Reddit have 22% usage.
Schools, cities, and townships may have several or more Facebook groups to join to find a simple answer to a question such as: When is trick or treat? Or when or where are little league sign ups?
It's SOCIAL media, not news media... it's where people get to share ideas, thoughts and opinions (sometimes without the facts)...

While social media is important because it allows people freedom of speech, it's not a journalistic news source following the laws and ethics of journalism.

How to Help the WarrenCountyPost.com Grow as a News Source

For true journalism to survive, the way I see it, it's going to take volunteers... almost like missionaries for the cause of Freedom of the Press. So if you are interested in covering something that is happening locally in your area of Warren County, Ohio — may it be a special event, a local government decision, a school program or have ideas for feature stories here in Warren County, or have a Press Release you want published, please send me an email at TheWCPost@gmail.com.