Questions?
Find answers to common questions below.
Click on this link to go to the page where you can enter payment information and also see details about membership tiers.
Like most news organizations, we can’t rely on revenue from advertising to the extent we once could.
For many years, advertising revenue from print advertising generated enough revenue that the costs passed on to consumers could remain artificially low.
But recent years have seen advertising revenue drop substantially. Across the industry, advertising brought in about 30% of the revenue in 2018 than it did two decades ago.
As journalism has evolved in recent years, news organizations have had to change their business models.
While we will continue to seek additional revenue streams including advertising, financial support from readers is essential to the Cap Times if it is to keep producing our current volume of quality journalism.
The most important thing you’ll receive is the satisfaction of supporting first-rate local journalism. You will also receive special behind-the-scenes looks at the work that we produce and discounts on our events, like Cap Times Idea Fest. Depending on the membership tier that you select, you may also receive benefits from local businesses that partner with the Cap Times.
Memberships are good for one year and are billed on a monthly or annual basis. You are free to cancel your membership at any time by emailing ctmembers@madison.com.
As a leading daily news source, the Cap Times covers all elements of life in Madison, including education, neighborhood development, the environment, diverse communities, and politics. We also cover cultural topics like food, movies and sports and publish a calendar of local events.
We take pride in providing a first-rate forum for opinion. We have several opinion columnists on staff, and we also publish guest columns and letters to the editor. Our opinion staff operates separately from our reporting staff.
Just as with public television and radio, we hope you believe in our mission and value it in a way that justifies your financial support. Quality local journalism will not survive without the support of its readers.
You can find free copies of our weekly print edition at more than 300 locations around the Madison area. Email us at ctmembers@madison.com if you need help finding one, but generally speaking, grocery stores and library branches are good places to look.
Many Madison-area print subscriptions to the State Journal also include the print Cap Times on Wednesdays.
No, the cost of a Cap Times membership is not tax-deductible.
Cap Times members receive a significant discount to Idea Fest.
A receipt will be emailed to you shortly after you join us as a member. Please email ctmembers@madison.com with any questions or concerns.
Yes! Checks for membership can be sent to Cap Times memberships | PO Box 8060 | Madison WI 53708. Please include your email address on the memo line so we can sync our records.
Membership can be canceled at any time by emailing ctmembers@madison.com.
At the Cap Times, opinion is completely separate from reporting. The thoughts and opinions of our columnists do not affect our news reporting.
Our reputation goes back to our founding more than 100 years ago and is largely connected to the stances the opinion section has taken over that time — opposing the Vietnam War and U.S. Sen. Joe McCarthy during the “Red Scare” days of the 1950s, to name two historical examples.
Our news reporting, however, is driven by the judgment of reporters and editors on the news desk, and the opinions of our columnists don’t affect it. Our stories are carefully researched and fact-checked, and we strive to tell them as accurately as possible. This is critical to our mission to serve the public.
Please email any remaining questions to ctmembers@madison.com.
The Cap Times is owned by stockholders of The Capital Times Co., a locally owned company. Major stockholders include relatives of William T. Evjue, who founded the newspaper over a century ago, as well as The Evjue Foundation, a philanthropic organization.
The two organizations have separate newsrooms and different owners. The Cap Times is owned by stockholders of The Capital Times Co., a locally owned company. The State Journal is owned and operated by Lee Enterprises Inc, a corporation that owns dozens of newspapers across the country.
Seeing an opportunity to save both newspapers money, an organization called Madison Newspapers Inc was formed to manage business functions. Madison Newspapers Inc is jointly owned by the Capital Times Co. and Lee Enterprises.
- What we collaborate on: advertising, circulation, producing print and digital products, website and technology needs, and other non-journalism business roles.
- What we don’t collaborate on: our news content or our opinion content.
The Evjue Foundation is the philanthropic arm of The Capital Times Co. It was created by the will of founder William T. Evjue, who died in 1970. The foundation owns significant stock in The Capital Times and distributes roughly $2 million per year in grants to nonprofits in the Madison community. For legal reasons, its holdings cannot be used to support Cap Times journalism.
No, they are separate.
No, they are separate.