By Katherine Hill
Many of you may have heard by now that Tahoe Guide has shut down its print publication. This move was a struggle for me both personally and professionally and carried out with a mixture of emotions.
I’ve spent nearly 20 years working for Tahoe Guide (Tahoe Weekly/North Tahoe Truckee This Week/The Weekly). For the last 11 years, I’ve been the owner and publisher of the magazine and I was thrilled to take over the publication that has served our community for nearly 43 years. I am only the third owner of the magazine and it was heartbreaking to make the final decision to cease the print edition, yet I knew it was time.
But I’m happy to say the print edition went out on a high note, with its largest readership in its 43 years, averaging 15,000 copies for each edition along with hundreds of mail subscribers around the country. As an independent, local media outlet, Tahoe Guide had the privilege and the honor to cover local voices, local stories, and our local community in a unique way. I always tell people “We cover the fun” — but there’s a lot of meaning in those four words.
Tahoe Guide covered the artists and the makers, the songwriters and musicians, the nearly boundless outdoor adventures, our local history, the local food scene and, of course, the events and festivals. We covered the resurgence of Kings Beach as an arts community and the need for more ADA access to unpaved trails, recreation facilities, and our lakes and waterways. We covered the public’s right to access public lands through improved trail and backcountry parking access to the Forest Service’s fumble on a 1972 executive order to develop plans for winter use by motorized vehicles. We covered impacts to our community on trash, traffic, wildfire danger, and microplastics. We reminded visitors how to deal with bears, how to respect the environment, and how to be stewards of our communities during their visits.
Who will do so now?
Who will tackle these important community issues? Who will tell our stories?
Fortunately, local independent publications like Moonshine Ink are still here, but they need our help and support. Most importantly, they need your money. Advertise, purchase a subscription, and join their membership program to support local, independent journalism.
In every edition of Moonshine Ink, Mayumi Peacock and her staff work diligently to report on issues important to the Tahoe and Truckee community based on facts and boots-on-the-ground hard news reporting. Let’s not forget who broke the news on Homewood Mountain Resort’s plan to go private — Moonshine Ink. And who was instrumental in the fight to have AT&T remove lead pipes from Lake Tahoe? Yep, Moonshine Ink.
Only local, independent publications respond quickly to community issues, to ask the tough questions, often taking the hard punches in doing so, to report on the issues that matter most to the community.
I keep mentioning “independent” publishers because it’s important to make that distinction. These are local publications owned and operated by locals. They are run by your friends, your family, your community members. We are small businesses that employ locals and our money stays in our community.
Not all publications in our community are independently owned. I urge you to ask who owns a publication before you decide to spend your money with them and choose to support local, independent media outlets.
So, what’s next for me?
I’m open to the possibilities of what’s next. I am committed to operating Tahoe Guide via a paid monthly newsletter and our website through the winter. I’m hoping our loyal readers will step up to contribute $25 a year to support our efforts to continue. You can learn more at yourtahoeguide.com/subscribe.
Thank you to everyone who has supported Tahoe Guide’s work since 1982. I appreciate all of you. Please feel free to reach out to me at publisher@yourtahoeguide.com.
~ Katherine Hill is the publisher and owner of Tahoe Guide and is an award-winning editor and writer. Her more than 30-year career in journalism includes working at daily and weekly print and digital publications. She is passionate about telling the stories of the people and places of the Tahoe Sierra. Katherine is also co-founder of the Tahoe Literary Festival.
