Greetings,

This is kind of "inside baseball" for the average reader, but as I explained in my recent round up of The Edge's accomplishments, I've decided to seek an outside audit of our readership, and this is the explanation for why, in case you care.

For the average reader, this is boring and irrelevant, but I am so flabbergasted by how the challenge to my claim that we are the "most-read" print-digital news outlet came about, I must take a stand, and this helps folks see the thought process that has gone into my decision.

Here's what I've already shared:

Until recently, I proudly proclaimed that we are the most-read digital-print news outlet in Madison County, our coverage area. But last week, an employee of WEKU demanded I prove it.

When I asked why The Edge's readership numbers matter to a publicly funded media outlet with infrastructure supported by a state university, that is neither our direct competition, nor of the same format, the response was a direct challenge to my integrity, which is not good for business if you run a news organization.

However, while I have the utmost confidence in my claim, I agree that if I say we're number one, there had better be evidence to back that up.

That is why I am seeking a third party audit to verify The Edge's status as the most read print-digital news outlet in the County. You can read more about that here.

Meanwhile, until I am able to get an outside audit, I am not going to publish our numbers, even though I believe that on sheer readership of our flagship publication alone (not social media) we are ahead by at least three times. Nor for the time being will I make the claim we are number one, even if I believe we are.

That's because I don't fully understand why this challenge has been put to me the way it has and by whom, and until I have a reliable, neutral way to parse the data, I will not willingly expose this amazing community and body of work that we've built to the whim of someone has made clear to me is not invested in our success.

Here's new information:

I haven't ever asked for an audit before, and so far, I am not sure how to make this happen. Because we are digital only, we are a nontraditional outlet in Kentucky, and there is no official mechanism in place to regulate how we measure readership.

While there are statutory circulation audits, ie, audits of actual paid subscribers, that our competition in Richmond and Berea must submit to, there are no straightforward metric criteria for us.

For one thing, we are a free publication with the option to support us with a paid membership, so we have what is known as tiered-subscriptions, which the print industry does not have: either you pay or you don't. For another, we are digital and do not have a print product.

So, I don't look at circulation through the lens of subscription rates, although I am positive we lead our competition there, too, if we base that on the number of email addresses we have collected from people who have exchanged that with us in order to receive our newsletter.

I look at dominance in the local industry as the simple, straight forward number of monthly readers we have. And that, my friends, is a lot. At least three, and probably four times more than either other mastheads, based on their previously published data.

Maybe it will turn out I am so wrong about all of this and will look ridiculous for having taken this stand. I am willing to take that risk. A third party audit will make it clear either way.

But maybe we can help change how news outlet success is measured in the state, and be included in the state's official view of what a news organization is and how it should be measured.

Unpacking that a little further, it's important to understand the full scope of the challenge on the table here. Print circulation numbers are the currency of the newspaper business, especially in Kentucky where whichever masthead (industry lingo for publication) can prove the highest circulation numbers in a given jurisdiction gets the plum revenue stream of that jurisdiction's legal notices, which are the notices they are compelled by law to publish, things like sheriff sales, city council meeting agendas, etc.

That is no small thing. There are print newspapers all across the state which have survived (barely) simply because of the juicy revenue stream that legal notices provide. Both my competitors rely heavily on those monies to stay in business.

So, if I claim to have the most readers, why do I not have the legal notices in my publication? In industry terms, that would make me the "paper of record". In several other states, readership numbers alone, not circulation or print status, would be the criteria for that, and The Edge would be the paper of record.

The reason The Edge is not the paper of record in Madison County, or in Richmond or Berea, is that the state newspaper professional group, the Kentucky Press Association, of which I was a member but decided to drop out of when I realized my hefty annual membership fee was being spent on lobbying against me, has taken a stand in Frankfort.

That stand is that print is king, and digital is second rate, and so only print publications should be allowed to print legal notices. The KPA "compromised" in recent years and now "allows" the state to mandate that so-called legacy papers that have added a website to their offerings be where the notices are printed, but you still must have a print publication to be considered for legal notices, so really, nothing changed.

To be fair, there is a new KPA director—the first leadership change in something like 40 years—and he is sincerely trying to find the just path through this, is my assessment. I think he has a real fight on his hands, but I believe he is committed.

The Kentucky League of Cities meanwhile says, as I do, that print is dead (at least for now—if I could profitably add and sustain a print paper at The Edge, I would definitely do that), not enough people read them, and so if you want an informed citizenry, the individual jurisdictions should just be allowed to publish the legal notices on their websites and social media and stop using taxpayer dollars to subsidize failing businesses.

Hear, hear!

Or, even better, my argument is to take the middle road, and that is this: allow jurisdictions to pay to publish their legal notices in the news outlet—digital or print—which can prove it has the most readers, not subscribers. And I believe that in Madison County, that is The Edge. That is the fight I am going to have to take to Frankfort to prove.

I'll keep you posted. And, if it turns out the only way to do this is to hire an outside agency, I will let you know what kind of support I will need to cover the cost, in the hope that you will help me elevate this conversation and set a new statewide standard for how to measure a news outlet's success.

Whatever the findings, once I have them, I will share them with you. If I am wrong, I will be sad and probably embarrassed, but I will tell you the truth.

Meanwhile, until I am able to get an independent audit of one kind or another, I am not going to publish our numbers, even though I think it would shock some people because they. are. awesome. Nor for the time being will I make the claim we are number one, even if I believe we are.

Thank you so much for your support and your enthusiasm for The Edge.

Whitney McKnight,
Publisher and Founder,
The Edge