Dec 10, 2023
When Kurt Repanshek launched the Traveler back in August of
2005, it was primarily to find stories that he could pitch to
magazines. But the magazine world took a nosedive, while at the
same time readership on the Traveler continued to grow.
Today, between 2.5 and 3 million readers and listeners a year turn
to the Traveler to learn more about the National Park System, both
its wonders and how it’s being managed. Unfortunately, the Traveler
hasn’t been financially sustainable, and can’t continue unless we
can attract the funding necessary to employ a small staff, upgrade
IT resources, and allow us to tackle the growing number of critical
stories that fall by the wayside because more and more news
organizations are paring back, or totally going out of
business.
Rebecca Latson, the Traveler’s contributing photographer, and Lynn
Riddick, who hosts many of the Traveler’s weekly podcast, discuss
their participation in pulling together the Traveler’s editorial
content, and how that’s given them greater appreciation of the
value of having a news organization whose focus is solely on
national parks and the National Park Service.