There are certain things in life that you don’t even know you’re missing until you learn about or experience it, and then once you do, you don’t want to go backward.
This concept sums up well how I feel about my new favorite local news source, The New Gazette.
In simple terms, The New Gazette is an email subscription service that sends out curated and concise local headlines to one’s email inbox three days a week. I became a subscriber about six weeks ago, and I’m not sure I’ve missed opening one of their emails since.
Founded in December 2020 by Jared Wasdin, The New Gazette is objective, straight-forward, and easily digestible. I find the content to be informative, quickly skimmable in less than 60 seconds, and free of any detectable biases.
I recently caught up with Wasdin to learn a little bit more about what his motivation was to create this resource and why he feels it adds tremendous value to our North Alabama community.
When asked why he believes it’s important to pay attention to local news, Wasdin says that “the area we can affect the greatest change is right here in our own communities.” He continued to share that “national news is important, but it’s also important to know the percentage of people in your own backyard that are dealing with the same issues that we often tend to focus on on a national or global scale.”
Wasdin strongly believes that local happenings are what tend to impact one’s day-to-day life much more than national events and that it’s important to be informed about events and circumstances that are right around you.
“For example,” Wasdin shares, “it’s important to know what major industries are moving to the area, how many jobs they’re bringing, etc. because that directly impacts our real estate market, potential school rezonings, new career options, and more.”
“We often get caught up in big trends with politics and economics on a national and global scale, and a lot of anxiety can get built up around those topics and what’s happening in the world,” Wasdin says. “But I want to live well here. I want to be informed and give thoughtful consideration to the things that are happening in my own community.”
When asked why he believes it’s important to be informed about local news, he shared that community members cannot have their voices heard if they’re simply uninformed.
“Even if I don’t show up at the City Hall meetings, I still want to be informed so that I can share my voice about topics I care about. Local news can do that for you.”
The New Gazette follows a subscription-based model where users pay a small monthly fee ($5) and receive the content straight to their inboxes three days a week + one round-up monthly email. The emails are completely ad-free.
When asked why someone would want to pay for this service to receive the local news versus watching a daily local news station, he shared that “If you want to take the time to watch the news every day, you’re welcome to.”
“The question is ‘Do you have the time and the mental space to consume it, including all of the fluff that you’ll see that fills the news cycles?'”
Wasdin says that The New Gazette is going to strictly focus on the things that are “clutch and important”.
Wasdin also shared that a subscriber’s monthly fee is also paying for The New Gazette to sift through over 1,000 headlines per week “in order to tell you exactly what you need to know.” They also sift through and grab content from over 200 sources.
“We are doing all of the work for you. At the end of the day, you’re paying for convenience. It’s just like the dry cleaners or anything else that you could do yourself but would rather simply have it all done for you in a reliable, safe way.”
About Jared Wasdin, Founder and CEO of The New Gazette
About four years ago, Wasdin and his family decided to move closer to family and drove through Nashville, Huntsville, Birmingham, and more looking for the perfect community to settle down in and raise their family.
“We drove through these bigger cities, but we felt like the Huntsville area was so much better. This area felt like a place where we could grow our family well. My wife and I are both ‘doers’, and we could feel so much potential energy in the Huntsville area. We knew this was our city.”
After living here for a few years, he realized in the middle of quarantine that he wasn’t super informed about what was happening in our area.
“I like to read and stay up-to-date with the news, but I found myself feeling more informed about global things than Huntsville/Madison things.”
He continued to share that his idea for The New Gazette was born, and after running a beta for six months and getting rave reviews, he decided to go for it.
“My wife told me that I’ll never know if it could work if I don’t try.”
Wasdin has already created many partnerships across the area, including with the local library.
“Everything we’ve published so far will be preserved there, and I’m so glad about that.”
Ready to try out The New Gazette?
Click here to receive the service for 14 days completely free. After your trial ends, you’ll receive 20% off of your subscription as an All Things Madison reader. Your monthly cost will be only $4!
If The New Gazette ends up not being your thing, you can cancel before the 14-day mark and won’t be charged a penny.
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