5-03-2024 12:14am

World Press Freedom Day We Thank Our Sponsors and Anonymous Donors

The United Nations General Assembly declared May 3 to be World Press Freedom Day or just World Press Day, observed to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of the press and remind governments and the public of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression enshrined under Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and marking the anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration, a statement of free press principles put together by African newspaper journalists in Windhoek in 1991.

Locally, in Alamogordo and Southern New Mexico we live in a news desert. Meaning the community is absent of a fully staffed local print newspaper, a majority of the broadcast bandwidth of local radio airwaves is controlled by one entity and one owner.

At 2nd Life Media via Alamogordo Town News and KALHRadio.org we represent the only independent voice not beholden to the local power structure, nor the depth of political influence nor the influence of either party that controls the region or the state. We offer local sports, stories In nonprofits, businesses and those with vision making a positive impact on our community. Of course we also cover the hard news; political races, crime and convictions, tragedies such as car wrecks, crashed aircraft and military news. We offer obituaries as a service to the community for no charge unlike the traditional newspaper that uses that feature as a profit center.

We provide the service of independent research and information at a loss; dependent upon sponsorships and the generous contributions many times by anonymous donors left at our doorstep at 1209 New York Avenue. For that we thank you.

The Alamogordo Daily News was the original and dominate media outlet for Alamogordo for decades, until it all but withdrew from most local news.

The Alamogordo Daily News claims 1898 as its founding date, but a case can be made for 1896. A predecessor, the Chief, was founded in Tularosa as a weekly in 1896, then moved to La Luz the next year and changed its name to Sacramento Chief. It was sold to the Alamogordo Printing Company in 1899 and continued under the same name briefly before becoming the Alamogordo News. The paper continued as a weekly until the 1950s when it went daily.
The paper has been sold several times.

Recently it was sold by Community Newspaper Holdings to MediaNews Group in 2001. The paper is part of the Texas-New Mexico Newspapers Partnership, a joint venture formed in 2003 between MediaNews Group and Gannett, with MediaNews Group the managing partner.

The paper was an evening paper until September 1, 2006, published weekday evenings and Sunday mornings. It then switched to a morning paper, published daily except Mondays. In 2015, Gannett acquired full ownership of the Texas-New Mexico Newspapers Partnership.

In March 2024, the newspaper announced it will switch from carrier to postal delivery. The Daily News was at its peak hosted reporters dedicated to sports with a sports editor, political analyst, an in town editorial board, features writers focused on arts, culture, business and military correspondent and a State House Correspondent

Those days are long gone, now the Daily News has a locally focused single staff member that produces one local story a day 5 days a week and filler from Gannet Corp, that’s not local news.

The Daily News circulation, that at peak was in the 10s of thousands, per a recent audit is now 6,355 Daily and 7569 on Sundays but further shrinking with the transition to mail delivery.

The result of the collapse of the local newspaper coverage resulted in a news desert for Alamogordo that is now being filled by the independent voice of the 2nd Life Media properties.

On air news and commentaries are created for the Alamogordo Town News radio edition and podcasts via streaming KALHRadio.org led by Anthony Lucero with the support of news reporters Sarah Moro, Katelin Spradley, and guest spots from a variety of local personalities.

Kiwanis Most Improved Students and BUG Students For April 2024
https://youtu.be/WkLGuwH1p_c

Kathy Denton Kitty City Cat Chat 050324
https://youtu.be/LTrDYOz97Mk

Katelin Spradley Ag Minute Cattle
https://youtu.be/43dK4f6mcyo

Sarah Moro Fishing Report 050324
https://youtu.be/3MQ8UtxAThY

Alamogordo Town News On KALH 050324
https://youtu.be/8thiScZOFqg

The in depth written content is led by Chris Edwards, assisted by a University of California Intern, Mica Maynard and by Steven Edwards with guest commentators that specialize in a variety of fields.

News https://2ndlifemediaalamogordo.town.news/
Obituaries and Community:
https://2ndlifemediaalamogordo.town.news/community

Community Calendar:
https://2ndlifemediaalamogordo.town.news/calendar

2nd Life Media has grown into a team of 9 professionals collaborating to fill the void in this news desert with information and education as a public service to our local community. At 2nd Life Media we have grown from an engagement of 500 daily readers and listeners 1 year ago to over 15,859 daily readers and streaming listeners, consistently, daily.

This Press Freedom Day, we celebrate our peers and partner journalists who bring the news with bravery and an intent of purpose; and that purpose is in providing information to our readers and listeners.

At 2nd Life Media and KRAZY KALHRadio we extend our gratitude to our supporters, sponsors and anonymous donors that allow us the opportunity to freely exercise Amendment 2 as media professionals on this World Press Freedom Day 2024!