Dan Feather helps to build local news nonprofit

This was not supposed to be a desert!

By Dan Feather, reporting from Floyd County, Virginia

In recent years, our majestic county in southwest Virginia has become a "news desert"—joining hundreds of small, rural communities across America. Our legacy newspaper, a weekly staple since 1891, began slipping away about 25 years ago. After a century of independent, local ownership, it was bought out, sold upward three times, and absorbed into a massive corporate conglomerate. Today, they have zero reporters in Floyd County. Subscriptions have plummeted, local advertisers have fled, and the common refrain from old-timers is as heartbreaking as it is true: "It's just not a Floyd paper anymore."

But a community without a voice refuses to stay quiet.

Over the last three years, a group of determined neighbors decided to fight back. Dreamers found startup funding, stalwarts gathered, a board coalesced, and a new community lifeline was born: the Floyd Times. We are a full-time, weekly digital news source. Because of my history as a reporter, photographer, and editor, I was drawn into this adventure. In the ten months since our launch, we’ve already proven the hunger for real journalism, even putting ink to paper for three special print editions distributed across two dozen county locations.

The response has been gratifying, but our mission is far from complete.

A digital-only paper leaves too many neighbors behind. Many households from Willis to Copper Hill have no internet or computers—and frankly, nothing replaces the feeling of a real newspaper on the kitchen table. To truly serve Floyd County, we must build toward a reliable, weekly print edition. We need the staff to show up at every government meeting, cover every local newsmaker, and keep eyes and ears on every corner of our community.

I gladly dedicate my time and energy to the Floyd Times, but we cannot print the future on sweat equity alone. We need your financial support to bridge the gap.

Whether you can give $5, $50, or $500, every dollar goes directly toward keeping Floyd County informed, connected, and accountable. If you cannot give today, please help us by sharing this message with someone who can. Local news has made a comeback in Floyd County. It's about time—and with your help, it’s time for the Floyd Times to thrive.