The Palatka Daily News will close its building to visitors as of Monday.
The newspaper for the last two weeks has restricted access to its lobby from noon – 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
It is now being closed to visitors completely to help fight COVID-19 and keep the newspaper’s readers and staff safe.
“The Palatka Daily News and other newspapers are classified as essential businesses under the executive order issued Wednesday by Gov. Ron DeSantis,” Publisher Michael Leonard said. “We will continue to serve our Putnam County readers and customers to the best of our abilities and safety of our employees. We look forward to emerging stronger with our community on the other side of this crisis.”
Telephone calls will still be answered, news staff available, circulation team members present and advertising personnel ready to help. Call or email our team members.
Customers can also use the drop box at the front door of the Daily News, 1825 St. Johns Ave., to leave news and advertising items, subscription payments and other submissions.
The Daily News is undertaking several measures to help the community get through this time. Included is a free directory of businesses that remain open while practicing appropriate social distancing measures to begin next week in print, digitally and on our Facebook page. A sample of how this will look can be found on Page 5A of today’s newspaper.
Leonard said another initiative has gone gangbusters. The paper on March 24 began offering 13 weeks of the Daily News for only $13, almost half price.
“We are pushing 150 new subscribers and double that in current subscribers who are taking advantage of the deal to add 13 weeks to their current subscription,” Leonard said.
“The newspaper is not making money at this price. We’re just trying to get objective and factual local information to more people in Putnam County at a time when having reliable knowledge is more important than ever.”
National Readership Institute figures show community market newspapers like the Palatka Daily News average 2.6 readers for each copy purchased.
Call the Palatka Daily News at 312-5200. Visit our website at palatkadailynews.com and share with us on Facebook.