This newspaper was launched exactly one year ago, on this day, and it has been an arduous but enriching journey so far. We want to thank each and every one of our esteemed readers for the support and encouragement without whom we would not have made it this far. By supporting us, we assure you that you are supporting independent journalism and the cause of democracy. We have been through a lot of ups and downs during the course of our one-year journey and we have also learned a lot of hard lessons. Richer with experience and ever committed to our vision and mission, we now embark on the journey of our second year of publication. It is our humble request that our readers continue to support local journalism, thereby contributing towards building a more vibrant, resilient and an empowered democratic society.
Mokokchung Times cannot sustain without the support of the community. And the community has nothing to lose by supporting a local independent newspaper that is dedicated to honest and ethical journalism. Support for community-based journalism brings important issues to light in a way that creates dialogue and real change while inspiring the kind of self-reflection and critical thinking that a society requires. We, therefore, once again urge you to pledge your support for our work as we journey ahead with reinvigorated zeal to build an informed and empowered citizenry.
There are factors that are detrimental to our publication yet are beyond our control – factors which we believe we can overcome only with our tenacity and resolve over time. However, there may be certain aspects that are within our control which can be improved with our collective effort. As such, we request our esteemed readers to communicate with us and share your feedback so that we can improve on them for mutual benefit. We do not claim to achieve unrealistic aspirations but we assure you that we will continue to strive in our mission to empower the citizens, to help citizens understand society’s problems and develop meaningful solutions, to increase public awareness and engagement, to report on important issues impacting our society, and provide a much-needed platform for voices that are under-represented.
Meanwhile, we would also like to announce that we welcome and encourage citizen journalism and that we are ever ready to share our platform – both print and digital – with interested citizen journalists who have a story to tell, an exposé to be made, or a news to break. We also encourage our readers, students, scholars, intellectuals and concerned citizens to write their opinions on topics of their interest as well as on matters of public interest. We will share them on our social media and digital platforms which have grown to a combined audience of over 50,000 reaching tens of lakhs of users every month and traffic of 40,000+ visitors to our source portal every month.
We look forward to hearing from you, our readers, just as much as we look forward to your continued support in the days ahead as we travel together towards the common goal of building a better society.