You have relied on us for critical coronavirus crisis coverage. We also rely on you

Dear Readers,

It has been quite a stretch for our newsroom.

The novel coronavirus crisis has been an all-hands drill unlike any we’ve seen. In the past month, our journalists at the Bradenton Herald have been working nearly round the clock to provide readers with critical coverage.

We have published dozens of stories and videos a day, from a steady stream of breaking news to accountability journalism and investigative stories. We have answered scores of reader questions, investigated tips, fought for access to government briefings, filed public records requests and shared much-needed stories of resiliency and uplift.

We provided all of this coronavirus coverage for free.

Now, we simply can’t afford to do that anymore.

Starting today, we are reinstating the metered paywall on much of our coronavirus coverage. We will continue to provide free access to stories that address critical health and safety information.

Our ability to continue to serve our community depends on the financial support that comes, in large part, from subscriptions.

During our nearly 100-year history, the Bradenton Herald has covered many important stories: from explosive growth and development, the Great Recession, red tide and numerous hurricanes and tropical storms.

This story is different. It is international, national, and intensely local. It is dangerous to cover. And no one is immune. This pandemic has affected nearly every business and industry, from travel and tourism to local restaurants and barber shops. Most of our local business partners can no longer afford to advertise.

This, at a time when the local news industry is already grappling with a flailing financial model that has been upended by technology. As Neil Brown, president of The Poynter Institute for Media Studies recently noted: The newspaper industry got coronavirus — and it already had underlying conditions.

Yet we need journalists in service to our readers asking the tough questions, pushing for answers, highlighting solutions. This is what our staff has been doing.

In the last month, we wrote about an Ellenton man who was ill at Manatee Memorial Hospital while waiting to be tested for the coronavirus. It was the first glimpse of a process that at times has been clouded in too much mystery.

We reported on a letter sent by managers of a low-income apartment complex that many saw as inappropriate and “distasteful” warning tenants they might be evicted if they didn’t pay their rent, regardless of the effects of the pandemic.

We published an interview with a nurse at Doctor’s Hospital, the first local hospital to treat a coronavirus patient, after she went into self-isolation. She said no one from the hospital had called to check on her — something that changed after we published our story.

And we mapped the capacity of every hospital in the state, showing that if 20 percent of the population of Florida contracts COVID-19 within six months, hospitals would be overrun with more patients than they have available beds.

And our readers have responded. Over the past month, our digital readership is up by 88 percent. And we have received many lovely emails from readers, thanking us for keeping them connected and informed throughout this crisis.

Our readers are relying on us for credible, fact-based news and information.

Now we must rely on reader support to continue our unrelenting commitment to public service journalism.

If you aren’t a subscriber, we think it’s an easy value proposition. For about the same price of a monthly subscription to Netflix, readers could have unlimited access to essential local content to keep you safe, informed and connected to everything happening in our community.

To our subscribers, we are grateful for your support. It allows us to do this work. If you subscribe to our print edition, please be sure to sign up for our digital services here so you can receive alerts and reports at any time, on any device.

Anyone can sign up for Coronavirus: the latest in Florida, a free email newsletter that comprehensively covers the latest developments on the virus and how it affects your life in Bradenton and Manatee County.

We are in this with you for what will feel like a marathon. We will support this community in the ways we know best: by providing timely, accurate information, and holding the powerful accountable. We’ll do it through the spread of the virus, its peak, and when we begin to recover and rebound. And we say again: We need your support.

Stay safe. And feel free to contact us with any comments, questions, suggestions or criticisms.

Marc R. Masferrer is the president and editor of the Bradenton Herald.

Aminda Marques Gonzalez is the president, publisher and executive editor of the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald and the regional editor for McClatchy’s Florida’s news operation.

This story was originally published April 6, 2020 at 2:18 PM.