Oct. 1-7 is pulling double-duty this year. Not only is it Banned Books Week, it’s also National Newspaper Week.
Like Sunshine Week in the spring, which celebrates the work news organizations do to shed light on everything from crime to government to events, National Newspaper Week also celebrates the work reporters do to keep readers informed and up-to-date. But more than that, National Newspaper Week is a reminder that the best way to get local news is from a local news source — like your hometown newspaper.
Too many communities are losing their local papers, putting them at risk of becoming news deserts. While national cable news can tell you what’s happening around the country or the world and “local” TV news can tell you what’s happening in the region, no one can consistently tell you what’s happening in your town, your neighborhood, the way a local newspaper can.
Our reporters do the legwork every day so you can stay informed. Our cops and courts reporter visits the courthouse multiple times a week to get information on criminal charges and lawsuits and follows up on fires and accidents, so you know where that firetruck was speeding off to or why traffic was snarled for hours. Our city/county reporter sits through city council, county commission and utility board meetings, so you can know what’s going on in the community without giving up your evenings. Our education reporter attends school board meetings and keeps up with local schools’ achievements, so you know what our best and brightest are up to. Our sports reporters give you the highlights from recent games across a variety of athletic events, so it’s like you never missed a game. Our government reporter covers everything from the state’s capital to the nation’s Capitol, so you know what lawmakers are doing and how it may impact you.
Every election season (which seems like it never ends anymore), we interview local candidates and compile an election guide so you know who is running for what office, why they are running, their qualifications and what they support (or don’t). While so much focus is on the national elections, we make sure to cover everything local, from city and county offices to off-year municipal elections.
But we don’t just give you the nitty-gritty, hard news. We cover local events like concerts, plays, fundraisers and festivals. We feature individuals and groups who are longstanding pillars of the community and up-and-comers who are making a splash. We have movie and streaming reviews, children’s book reviews, business/restaurant reviews, weekly recipes and fun DIY crafts. Our paper is where you can find milestone anniversaries and tributes to the recently departed. It’s where you find pictures of recent parades and community events, and even the seemingly random photo of yourself one of our photographers took while you were out enjoying a beautiful day.
As your local newspaper, we don’t just keep you informed seven days a week — we keep you connected to your community, because it’s our community, too.
