Difficult times for traditional newspapers

The Mountain Mail newspaper, which has served the local community for 29 years, will shut its doors this week. Thomas Guengerich announced his intention to shut the doors this week, due to ongoing financial difficulties. The economic climate for small-town newspapers - in fact large town newspapers as well - is very difficult now, due to a perfect storm of economic uncertainty (making ad sales more challenging) and an onslaught from online content and other alternative media. Socorro will now have only El Defensor Chieftain and Socorro News from which to get information and news.

A proud tradition

We salute the Mountain Mail for its proud tradition of independent journalism in Socorro. It served not only Socorro, but also Magdalena, Pie Town, Quemado, and the like. Not only that, it always bucked the trend of printing "pseudo-news" such as canned press releases from politicians, "think" tanks, and other special interest groups. Not to mention, they rarely, if ever, published canned P.R. spin from astro-turf (fake grass roots) organizations, unlike other news agencies in these parts. They will be missed.

Not the end of the story?

Socorro News remains committed to serving the Socorro community. We are still actively seeking potential volunteers and "citizen journalists" who might be interested in contributing to an independent news service, either through writing, editing, or financial support. Please contact us for information about how you can get involved to support independent journalism in Socorro.