By Reporter staff

The Reporter will go monthly beginning in 2026. The January 2026 issue will be published in place of the second December issue. Then the paper will be published the third week of each month. Starting in January, the paper will appear in mailboxes the third Friday of the month. Articles that arrive after the deadline for the print issue will be posted on our website, and be listed in e-mails noting the updates. Deadlines for print issues will continue to be published on page 3 of the paper and sent to local organizations. They will also appear on the paper’s website. Those interested can also contact the paper at Treporter@aol.com to receive a copy of the deadlines for the complete year.
“Newspapers are shutting down or going virtual across the country,” said Rabbi Rachel Essserman, executive editor of the paper. “Even the Forward and the New York Jewish Week have been virtual for years. Many of the other papers we used to produce have already gone monthly.”
Esserman, who is retiring at the end of this year, noted that “it’s extremely difficult to get advertising for the paper, which used to be a major source of income. Grocery ads that used to appear every two weeks are now only available for three or four holidays during the year. Many of these decisions are made at the corporate level and affect all newspapers, not just small Jewish ones.
“This does mean some changes in the paper,” Esserman added, “with what were once weekly congregation updates and writings about the parasha, the Bible portion of the week. The next executive editor will be involved in making those decisions and helping decide the direction of the paper.”
Esserman noted that she has agreed to continue to write book reviews and mentioned that award-winning columnist Bill Simons also plans to continue to write. Columns by Jeremy Staiman should also be continuing.
“We appreciate how difficult change can be,” said Shelley Hubal, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Binghamton. “But plans are already being made through the hard-copy version of the paper, the website and e-mails to make certain the paper’s readers have access to the information they need. There may be some growing pains, but I’m confident The Reporter staff will continue to keep the community informed and connected.”