Inside LINK is a weekly column from our CEO, Lacy Starling. If you have questions you’d like Lacy to answer, email her at [email protected].
When we started LINK, we knew that our coverage of the NKY Metro couldn’t be a one-way conversation. We needed to be able to hear from the community, and we understood that the community needed to feel heard.
And so far, we’re off to a strong start – we’re getting snail mail, emails, phone calls, texts, Facebook messages, Twitter DMs, people dropping by the office, and I’m pretty sure last week a carrier pigeon stopped in with a note from a reader.
All of this is fantastic, and a little overwhelming. We’re a small staff – the biggest in NKY, but still small! – and reading and responding to all these messages can be tough, especially because different people have access to different accounts.
So today, I wanted to let our readers know the best, most effective ways to reach our team, so your voice is heard. (Spoiler: Facebook messages and Twitter DMs are not the best way to reach us.)
News Team– The absolute best way to reach the news team with a press release or a news tip is to send them an email. Our [email protected] email goes to everyone on the editorial staff, so it doesn’t matter if someone is on vacation or out sick. These emails are checked all day long, and actioned pretty much immediately during business hours. If you want to speak to someone on the phone, including your phone number so we can call you back is best practice.
Advertising Team – Again, the best way to reach the advertising team is to send them an email. The [email protected] email goes to the entire sales team, and they are committed to responding the same business day.
Individual Reporters – If you have a reporter’s cell phone number, you can always call or text them. All our reporters are great at responding to calls and texts. If you don’t have their number, feel free to email them directly. Their emails are on every story they write, and I’ll list them below. Just keep in mind that if you have a general news tip, you are much better off sending it to the [email protected] email so everyone sees it.
- Meghan Goth – Managing Editor – [email protected]
- Haley Parnell – GA Reporter – [email protected]
- Kaitlin Gebby – Boone County Reporter – [email protected]
- Kenton Hornbeck – GA Reporter – [email protected]
- Mark Payne – Politics and Government Reporter – [email protected]
Complaints and hate mail – Don’t like what we’re doing? Think we are the worst news organization in the world? Our website not working? Send those messages to me. I’m not only the president and CEO, I’m also the Chief Complaint Answerer. (I also truly want to know where we aren’t meeting expectations, so I can fix things.) Some of the best, most productive conversations I’ve had about LINK have been with people who were NOT happy with us.
The net-net? If you want to reach us, email us. It’s the best, most efficient way to get your thoughts to our team, quickly. We want to hear from you, and using email makes sure we do.