Parsing local media includes a look inward; the appearance is lovely.

Earlier this summer I was asked by the Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce to hand out their Business Excellence Award for media. The Weekly was the recipient in 2014 and the rules are that once a company wins, they are not eligible for the next two years. So that’s how I came to share the stage with Joe Heston, KSBW’s president and general manager. KSBW was this year’s recipient and Heston bounded onto the stage and bragged to the room full of business folks for an uncomfortably long time.

Even as a jaded media pro and seasoned political observer I was moved: The man has impressive hair. But I was also reflective. While I often disagree with Heston’s editorials, and rarely watch local TV, the facts are the facts. KSBW has dominated its broadcast competition.

I mention this because I’m going cite figures that will show how the Weekly stacks up in the media landscape. I recognize it may well come off as boastful, but I hope the data is helpful.

There are many sad stories from the world of print journalism. The dailies in this market are in trouble. As our reporting shows, and as anyone who has picked up a copy within the past six months can clearly see, I’d contend they are victims of worst type of corporate control. The local managers are forced to do the bidding of distant executives and as such are executing bad plans, and doing it poorly.

Tom Newton, executive director of the California Newspaper Publishers Association – a statewide trade group, of which the Weekly is a member – sounds troubled, but not pessimistic. “Interest in news is up,” he says. “Delivery mechanisms are in transition, but the demand for professionally reported and edited information is high.

“Some weekly papers are performing well, as seen from the perspective of the bottom line,” he says. “Some dailies are in trouble financially.”

The Weekly is debt-free and profitable. Our financial obligations remain where they have always resided: with our readers, advertisers and staff. We offer our readers (in print and online) an excellent return on their investment of time. It has been our experience that if folks find something compelling and engaging in this week’s paper, there is a strong likelihood they’ll pick up next week’s. We seek to provide our advertisers with access to the best audience of potential customers in the market and to do it at a fair price. And we look to create a work environment where our colleagues can grow personally, professionally and financially.

The data infuses the entire group of us at the paper with a responsibility to continue to deliver. We are, as they say in this line of work, only as good as our last issue.

The print circulation of our paper is audited by an independent third party, Verified Audited Circulation. The 2014 audit shows circulation of 34,037. The audits of the daily papers show average weekday circulations for the same period for the Herald of 14,488 and 6,708 for the Californian.

Just four years before, the Herald’s audit showed a weekday circulation of over 25,000 and the Californian close to 9,800. That means the Herald has shed 42 percent of its audience and the Californian a third since 2010. (The Weekly’s 2010 audit shows a circulation of 34,739.)

Not selling subscriptions has proven a good model. When users access our content on our digital platforms, they don’t threaten a revenue stream – they increase our audience. According to Google Analytics, the number of people who go to our website every week is about 35,000 (although the latest three-month average is a record-breaking 66,000 per week – due in part to a set of Nic Coury’s photos going viral). Our thrice weekly newsletters go to over 25,000 people. Our mobile edition gets an additional 23,000 users every week.

The take-home message from the numbers in this relatively small media market is that the Weekly is a big fish in a beautiful pond. In 2015, good journalism remains a good business. We’re invested in this community, we’re growing our enterprise and I’m bullish about the future. Feel free to send me some feedback if you see ways we can improve, because like my brother in big hair at the TV station, “We welcome responsible replies to this editorial.”

ERIK CUSHMAN is the Weekly’s publisher. Reach him at erik@mcweekly.com.