Stet NewsHello on the last morning of this incredibly newsworthy year. For you today, an extended thank you for everything you helped Stet achieve in 2024 and a look to the future.
January
- Stet goes non-profit, forges a partnership with WLRN and takes second in the Florida Press Club Excellence in Journalism competition for best digital newsletter in Florida.
April
- Stet participates in a news website tech course offered by a cohort of independent publishers. After completion, Stet receives a $20,000 grant from the Google News Initiative.
- First meeting of Stet News Community Advisory Council, a distinguished panel of community leaders and journalists helping Stet keep its focus on doing the best it can for readers.
May
- Stet News joins the national Institute for Nonprofit News, which accepts just half the organizations that apply. It imposes standards around financial transparency, editorial independence and journalistic excellence in the rapidly growing independent news-gathering space.
- The Local Independent Online News publishers accept Stet for its sustainability program. It means Stet undergoes an audit packed with advice for how it can serve readers better and receives a $20,000 grant.
July
- Stet hires its first intern, Florida Atlantic University senior Mary Rasura. The plan is to work with more young journalists in 2025.
August
- Co-founder and reporter Joel Engelhardt captures first in the Society of Professional Journalists contest for reporting about the environment, science and technology, partnering on the entry with FAU student journalist Jessica Abramsky.
- New Stet website launches. Note: you may not have noticed the difference but we moved from Substack to a professionally designed home page on WordPress. It’s easy to find us: Just type StetNews.org.
- The Meredith B. Trim and James L. Robo Fund of the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties entrusts Stet with a $21,000 grant to power journalism to help fill the gap in Palm Beach County coverage. It is Stet’s first grant from a local foundation and we sincerely hope it won’t be the last.
October
- You told us in Stet’s first reader survey what you want to see: More stories about holding government accountable. More on our booming community’s development and economic trends. More on elections and how government actions affect you. And, you said, stick to the newsletter format. We will.
November
- NewsMatch accepts Stet into its year-end journalism fundraising campaign. The campaign, led by the Institute for Nonprofit News, matches individual donations of up to $1,000 in November and December up to $15,000. This is a path forward for independent news sites to help cover local news.
December
- Stet listed as a finalist for best newsletter, best independent news site and best community coverage in the Florida Press Club annual contest. Winners announced in 2025.
Resetting for the months ahead
Just as 2025 will be a pivotal year for you, with major change hovering over our lives through political forces, the dynamics of growth and in-migration as it trickles down to the local communities we call home, it is a pivotal year for Stet News. Our goal is nothing less than sustainability, so we can continue to provide coverage in 2025 and beyond.
For you donors who contribute every month or every year, we owe you. We owe you to keep working to ferret out news stories that would otherwise go untold. We owe you to bring to light government decisions and the changing face of your neighborhoods. We owe you to continue to grow to produce the kind of daily news product you have come to expect in a community as large and diverse as ours.
- We’ll continue to bring you the excellent reporting of former Palm Beach Post writers Jane Musgrave, Jan Norris and Janis Fontaine, while building on our relationship with local news reporter and storyteller extraordinaire Joe Capozzi, who runs his own independent news website, ByJoeCapozzi.com.
- We will work to build partnerships with like-minded community members who expect our county to have robust civic engagement and view the media’s role as critical to achieving that goal. And through that work, expand our board of directors to help oversee our growth. Are you a Stet superfan who would like to get more involved? Let us know.
- With added support, we will build on our core coverage area from Lake Worth Beach to Jupiter in north county and do a better job of filling in the gaps in local news coverage that already exist.
- We will try new things. Next up is a monthly roundup of the top news stories of the month, so if you miss a story don’t worry. We’ll have a catchup newsletter at the end of the month. Would you like to see a weekly listing of upcoming government meetings? Let us know. Would you like to cover a government meeting? We may have a program for you.
- We’ll stick to our mission of providing news coverage for free. No paywalls here. No distracting ads, either.
- And one other thing we know for sure. We’ll be back with another meaty edition of Stet News next week. As soon as we put away the Santa suits and pop the champagne.
In the meantime, we always want to hear from you. Write to us at stet@stetnews.org.
