Have you ever thought about what would be written in your obituary? Maybe you have written yours already? You may want to write a check, too.
Newspaper editors and publishers know the importance of obituaries to their readership. They are often one of the most-read pieces of a newspaper, and they are sometimes the only reason that readers choose to pay to subscribe.
Since their earliest years, newspapers had a mutually beneficial relationship with funeral home operations. Money rarely changed hands, but each knew the value of what the other did for their business. Some daily newspapers even had obituary writers assigned to this beat who made sure the information was accurate and written in a specific style.
In the last couple of decades, some newspaper publishers decided to start charging funeral homes for publishing obituaries. Most of the funeral homes simply passed these costs along to the grieving families. Fewer — and shorter — obituaries were then published in newspapers and typically only by the families that could afford them.
This change seemed to happen during the flurry of newspaper company sales to out-of-state corporations more interested in building profits than building readership. As they have now learned, you can’t do the first — at least not long term — without doing the second. Some newspapers — mostly locally owned — still publish obituaries for free, and kudos to them.
I was reminded of all this in recent months as we started to add obituaries to our Living Weekly email newsletters. The response has been favorable and seems to be sincerely appreciated by readers, funeral homes and grieving families. We don’t make any money by publishing obituaries, but it seems like the right thing to do. And, yes, it does help build our readership and our relationships — two things we value greatly.
Have a marvelous Monday, and thanks for reading.
Shane Goodman
President and Publisher
Big Green Umbrella Media
shane@dmcityview.com
515-953-4822, ext. 305 | 
