Cyber Monday Deal: This week, Decaturish will be offering yearly subscriptions for $30. Our normal price for a yearly subscription is $60.

Paying supporters get our monthly e-edition (delivered on the first of every month), access to our private communications channels on Slack and Facebook, free tickets to local events and exclusive deals from businesses that support us. More importantly, you’ll be paying to support the community news you enjoy every day. There are two ways to sign up. To sign up via PayPal, click here. You can also support us on Venmo: @Decaturish. Please note: If you’re signing up with Venmo, PLEASE include your preferred email address. 

Greater Decatur, GA — More than 1,500 people pay to support the news Decaturish.com provides to our community.

Michelle Hiskey is one of them.

Hiskey is a freelance writer, writing coach and single mom. She lives in unincorporated DeKalb County near Decatur. Her two adult children attended DeKalb County Schools.

Hiskey highly values local journalism. She began her writing career in high school with her local newspaper in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.

“Watergate brought a lot of attention to journalism and I was lucky to learn the craft at the elbow of great editors,” Hiskey said. “To support quality news reporting in my community is an easy decision for me. People in power in our community are not going to hold themselves accountable, and we need a thriving press like Decaturish to do that.”

“People who are afflicted in our community are going to suffer without a thriving press to tell their stories, too,” she added. “Social media is a tip line and not a trustworthy one. Seriously, we all benefit from a thriving press.”

After seeing Decaturish staff showing up to cover local news, Hiskey realized that Decaturish was the real deal and wanted to support the publication.

“Very few people understand the challenge of local news,” Hiskey said. “You are reporting on people that you see in the grocery store or at the stoplight. You are an arms length from your worst critics all the time. That takes a lot of dedication, compassion and nerve. As a freelance writer, I know that news content takes a lot of work, and that work needs to be compensated.”

Decaturish provides trusted news coverage of the community as well as a greater emotional connection and investment in the community, Hiskey said.

“This community is fortunate to have Decaturish and I want to be a small[ish] part of keeping Decaturish going,” she said.

Local journalism holds the powerful accountable, which is why others should support local news, Hiskey said.

“The press can do this better than the public in general, and why our First Amendment is first,” Hiskey said. “Very few people can go to every city council meeting, pore over the court docket or check the police log. Why would they? When we don’t have trusted sources like Decaturish to keep an eye on the people in power, they will abuse their power.”

To join Hiskey and become a paying supporter of Decaturish for as little as $3 a month, visit supportmylocalnews.com

If you appreciate our work, please become a paying supporter. For as little as $3 a month, you can help us keep you in the loop about your community. To become a supporter, click here. 

Want Decaturish delivered to your inbox every day? Sign up for our free newsletter by clicking here.