Dear Shepherd Express readers,
As you know, in March we had to make the difficult decision to stop printing the weekly Shepherd Express for the first time in its 38-year history. During the Safer at Home order, we did not think it would be safe or productive to continue to put out physical copies. Because we didn’t have a physical copy, we could focus all of our resources on expanding ShepherdExpress.com, one of the oldest news websites in the State of Wisconsin, and our daily e-newsletters allowing our writers to put out informative and quality content on a daily basis or actually, hourly basis.
A few of the many stories we covered in the recent weeks include; extensive coverage of our ill-advised April election in the early stages of the pandemic, the refusal of many insurance companies to cover local business disruptions during the pandemic, the conditions of the homeless community and those confined in our jails and prisons during a pandemic, and on the scene coverage of the demonstrations against police violence. We continued to support local art and artists by sharing links to the live-streamed performances of various bands and theater arts companies during a time when no venues were open.
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During this time, our readership stayed strong and our readers gravitated to the Shepherd website. We received close to three hundred appreciative calls and emails of support from our readers with their suggestions for the Shepherd’s future, and the main messages was “we want you back in print.”
The Shepherd’s Future
We are excited to announce the Shepherd Express will be back in print as a monthly publication debuting in early August. Over the past months, I’ve also been on the phone to a number of advertisers about the Shepherd’s future and their responses were clear: they really liked our publication, loved the demographics of our large readership and they also wanted us back in print. One question I heard often from our advertisers was, is there anything you can do to better showcase their ads and make them really “jump off the page.” We heard you and so, debuting with our August edition, the monthly Shepherd will be a glossy publication.
With this new look in mind, the Shepherd has contracted a highly regarded Third Ward Advertising and Marketing firm to have their top creative people do the overall design for the new Shepherd and produce the ads. Having some of the city’s most creative designers producing ads for our new glossy publication, the ads will no doubt “jump off the page.“
We are not changing the features our readers have come to expect from the Shepherd Express. Our coverage of News & Politics, Music, Arts & Entertainment, Dining, LGBTQ, Cannabis and, most importantly, what’s happening in the Milwaukee area will still be at the forefront of who we are. We are also adding a few new sections and hope to continue to add more sections in response to your feedback. The new monthly, in combination with the Shepherd Express website and our daily e-newsletters, will continue to provide our 185,000+ readers with the same honest, intelligent and courageous “call it the way it is” journalism, but now in a much-improved format for both our readers and advertisers.
We are excited. This time out due to the COVID-19 lockdown, which has certainly been stressful and costly to us, has also given us the opportunity to develop a plan for the future that will put the Shepherd Express on a stronger trajectory going forward to better serve our community. Our website and daily e-newletters will provide hour by hour updates along with the usual sections, columns and various news. The monthly print publication will provide some additional unique material delivered in a more aesthetic presentation.
Thank you for being a part of Milwaukee’s effort to support honest local journalism. The Shepherd plans to continue to serve the Milwaukee area for another 38 years.
Sincerely, Louis Fortis Editor/Publisher Dave Luhrssen Managing Editor
