Below is a letter published in the Oct. 16-29 Issue written by the Berkeley JACL in response to JACL National Board’s decision to end the printed publication of the P.C.
At the recent Berkeley JACL Board of Directors Meeting held Tuesday night, Oct. 6, we had an opportunity to discuss at length the decision of the JACL National Board for the Pacific Citizen to go completely digital by March 2016. This action by the National Board came as quite a surprise to P.C. Editorial Board Members who were notified of this action via email on Oct. 5 by the P.C. Following the Berkeley Board’s discussion of the issue, the following points were brought up expressing our Board’s concerns about pursing the digital-only option.
- What, if any, surveys, questionnaires and/or studies have been conducted to ask JACL members if they favor the digital-only option?
- Assuming that many, if not most of the current JACL members prefer the hard-copy version of the P.C., pursing the digital-only option may result in a decrease in membership.
- Based upon the anecdotal evidence provided by the Berkeley Board Members, many senior citizen members prefer the hard-copy version of the P.C. and would either have great difficulty or be unable to access a digital version.
- Assuming that many, if not most of the consistent and/or major donors to the JACL are folks that prefer the hard-copy version, pursuing the digital-only option may decrease donations.
- Transferring both the cost and responsibility of providing hard-copy P.C.’s to the Chapters is unfair, burdensome and fiscally unsound, assuming that the cost of printing hard copies decreases as the number of copies increases.
- Under the circumstances, assuming, this has not been previously undertaken, members should be asked whether they prefer the digital-only option.
- It would seem prudent for the Chapters to know how much money will be saved by changing to digital-only copies.
- If the digital-only option is contemplated, it would seem appropriate to first test, on a limited basis, how well it is received by the membership.
- Finally, under the circumstances, consideration should be given to offering members the choice of whether they prefer the hard-copy or digital version of the P.C.
Thank you,
Jim Duff on behalf of the Berkeley BOD,
P.C. Editorial Board Rep for NCWNPD
