Gazette 2.0’s digital successor brings back ‘Gains & Gleanings’

Editor’s note: Gazette 2.0’s successor West Hills Gazette is planning its official launch later this Fall. Currently, journalist Sonja Reis and her partners in this new venture are working out the bugs and getting their ducks in a row live for the world to watch. Additions and updates to the site will continue on an irregular basis. As always, if you have a news tip or feature idea please share with us at news@westhillsgazette.com.

When the necessary decision to shut down Gazette 2.0 was made last Fall, the fiscal realities were familiar across the newspaper landscape. Everyone is losing money, and papers die every day.

Much of that is because newspaper readers die everyday. The young folks don’t read newspapers, they read stuff on Instagram, watch videos on YouTube, and argue on X. They never fell in love with a quiet morning, the rumpling of the newsprint, and a slow sip of hot coffee.

But for many of us, that was what we saw growing up, what we learned to enjoy ourselves, and, sadly, that era is over for the most part.

Now, the digital redux. 

As publisher and newswoman Sonja Reis still labors to bring the news, paying for printing won’t happen, so we’re online as the West Hills Gazette.

From the day we shut down the G:2.0, folks have said to me – and even more frequently to my mother  – they miss Gains and Gleanings. 

I did publish columns on Facebook, but infrequently. That was mainly due to this being a presidential election year. A lot of my thoughts have been about the choices put before us, but I don’t want to spend most of a year pushing a political viewpoint, so my efforts were sparse.

And for many of the people who missed it, they’re not online. One lady in Kennedy told me her son printed my online version out for her, but most of those folks didn’t even know of those columns.

One upside (and downside) is that online, at least when shared on Facebook, the “comment section” response to a column can come fast and furious. Sometimes the conversation is civil, other times, not so much. In content meant for the news ingesting public, I’m not above deleting a vulgar comment or hiding it. 

I’ll continue to share on Facebook for those who use that platform. But we’ll need lots of folks sharing news, helps, and columns if this is going to gain traction. Please share stuff from our site.

Also, my real ask of you, dear reader, is that you let the older folks know of this new local news outlet. If they aren’t computer savvy, help them access it, bookmark it for them, put a shortcut on their home screen.

If they spent their life loving reading the newspaper, it won’t replace the subtleties of that big sheet and favorite breakfast chair, but it may help keep them in the loop about what’s going on in ways towns with no paper can’t often have.

Reis, thanks for doing the work. We’re in your corner.

Rev. James Hogan is a native of Stowe Township and serves as pastor of Faithbridge Community Church in McKees Rocks.