After 38 years of serving the island of Negros, the community paper Visayan Daily Star has come to its end, today, October 17.
In her FB post, the long time paper’s editor Carla Gomez said: “I just put the Visayan Daily Star to bed for the very last time an hour ago. After 38 years, it’s time to move on.”
This ends the speculation almost a month ago that the nearly four decades traditional newspaper served in almost every banks, coffee shops and commercial establishments is closing. At least 31 workers were stripped from their jobs, including those from its printing department.
In his column a day prior to the painful decision of shutting down VDS, its general manager Carlos Leonardia wrote a lengthy column about the struggle of VDS to survive. Below is a portion of his write-up as lifted from news.visayandailystar.com
Help!
We thought we could count on our reliable subscribers and advertisers who had been supporting us through the years but income was dropping while costs were rising. Throughout these compounding struggles, our website remained free, treating Negrenses all over the planet to our award-winning content. After 38 years of never failing to deliver the news come hell or high water, the Visayan DAILY STAR had established itself as one of the most trusted brands in the island.
https://news.visayandailystar.com/help/
Our organization had built trust and increased its value to the community but when it comes down to the brass tacks, these intangible assets cannot make payroll or pay for printing supplies. Our reputation may be solid but the business end was facing challenges that were becoming more and more difficult to overcome as the years dragged on.
To be honest, even before the pandemic, our Visayan DAILY STAR was already facing difficulty maintaining operations. Although it always managed to make payroll, it was becoming a biweekly struggle.
So when the pandemic hit, management was forced to take a long hard look at the viability of this little project that an intrepid group of Negrense journalists started 38 years ago. With advertisements barely coming in and newsboys unable to deliver the newspaper because of the lockdowns, we had to face the reality that the current form and structure of the Visayan DAILY STAR was no longer sustainable.
Saddened by this, readers & supporters turned online to share their VDS journey and stories.
Online community reacts:
