Good afternoon Patchers — I hope your week is off to a good start. Normally by this time on a Tuesday you’d have heard from me already. Since I launched The Dispatch last October, I’ve been used to sending either a long article or a ‘Brum in Brief’ every day of the week, bright and early at 7am. The reason behind this was simple: you needed to get to know me and to learn what exactly The Dispatch is. What better way than to show up in your inboxes at the same time (almost) every morning?
Well, now the time has come for us to change things up a bit. I think we’ve set out our stall pretty well by now and hopefully you will agree that what we do best is detailed feature articles that are written with care and your interests as a reader in mind. Alongside those stories, our Brum in Briefs have given you a little round-up of the key news from across the region. They’ve also gotten you used to The Dispatch name appearing on your phone screen around the same time as you are getting your first cup of coffee of the day.
The rest of the team and I have decided it’s time for us to focus more on our bread and butter — the detailed, long-form reporting that you’ve told us you love — and less on the daily mini briefings. We have a very small team here at The Dispatch, and we’ve been trying to think of ways to dedicate more time to the thing you most need from us: detailed, thoughtful local journalism that you can’t get anywhere else.
With this in mind, for the next few months our publishing schedule will look a little different while we give this new approach a whirl. Here is how things are going to look from now on:
Your Monday briefing is going nowhere — you can still expect a big story and all the other vital info, like home of the week and recommendations for things to do, to begin your week the right way.
On Wednesday, we will send out a paywalled article alongside a Brum in Brief. If you aren’t a Dispatch member, you’ll get a preview of the story but will only be able to read it in full if you are subscribed.
On Thursday, we will send out the second members-only story of the week and a round-up of the best recommendations for things to do over the weekend.
Saturday’s story will be business as usual — a beautifully written long article that is free to access for all readers.
We’ve thought long and hard about this and there is a bit of a risk involved. We will be going from six weekly editions to four — that’s quite a significant drop in quantity. However, we are pretty confident that by putting a lot more of our focus into reporting and writing the in-depth articles we’ve become known for, The Dispatch will only improve in quality. After all, we set out to be Birmingham’s best paper and our drive has only gotten stronger throughout the year as we’ve picked up more and more subscribers. Despite the risk, we feel very positive about the change and we hope you do too.
Our paying members — who now number 889, closing in fast on 1,000 — will still be hearing from us very regularly every week, but our non-paying readers will get a lot less Dispatch in their inboxes. If you are one of those people and you still want to hear from us four times a week, please sign up using the button below. It only costs £8 a month (or £1.53 per week if you join for a year), and for that you get lots of extra members-only journalism and access to our entire back catalogue of long reads and cultural stories. You will also be supporting a growing venture and showing that you believe in our mission to cover the West Midlands in a new way.
Thanks for your support to date and I hope you enjoy the new format.
Take care. Kate.
Best of luck with the changes - and good long form investigative journalism is a valid priority indeed.
The long form articles are what the dispatch does best. The what’s on/ short paragraph frequently reproves information available elsewhere. I hope the changes are successful and readership continues to grow.