Tara’s Takes
Any time we celebrate another trip around the sun, it’s a milestone. However, there are certain years that are celebrated a little more. Those big numbers like 30, 40, 50 when you reach different “hills” that you are now over. How about 85? I think 85 years is a huge milestone, and this year we’re celebrating that number. No, it’s not my or Per’s age.
This week, we celebrate National Newspaper Week, and this is the 85th such celebration. This year’s theme is “Embracing Local Journalism for a Better Future.”
While this week-long celebration won’t end with an open house like the fire department for Fire Prevention week, or a fun, decorated hay bale like the Amiret Busy Bees did for National 4H Week. Instead, it’s a simple reminder of the importance of local journalism and local newspapers.
When we look to National Newspaper Week, we are looking at four important aspects to local journalism.
1. Informed Citizens. I always tell Per our job isn’t to make the news, it’s to report the news. Our number one job is to keep our communities up to date on things that matter to them. In a world of social media, this is harder than ever. There are events that happen in town that are only promoted on Facebook. Sometimes we see these events in time to cover them. Sometimes they show up in a feed days after.
Moreover, social media is a great place to air grievances and spread rumors. Newspapers have an opinion page for you to give your opinion, but you have to attach your name to it and you can’t hide behind the computer. We also dig into the rumors that are shared with us. We seek the truth to make sure we are correctly informing our readers.
2. Accountability. The work behind digging into rumors is just that, work. We can’t justify printing something because someone’s mom’s, brother’s neighbor’s, bartender saw it on Facebook. We have to go to the source. We’re the community watchdog. We’re there when no other community members are at school board meetings and city council meetings. We follow city budgets and report on levy increases. We’re constantly watching our communities.
3. Community Connection. Newspapers are here to bring communities together. We work tirelessly to cover as many events as possible because they are important to our communities. This means we don’t work 9-5. Don’t tell my dad I said so, but there are days we might work more than farmers! We are there because community is so important to the future of all of us. In a previous story, Per wrote about how a new community member read the local papers when choosing what community to move to. Sharing the successes of our communities is important.
4. Economic Development. We work with our area businesses to bring their message to the customers, current and new. We work on a variety of projects to help move our community forward. We tell the story of new businesses, new community projects, etc. that will strengthen our communities. We donate to local organizations to continue the work they do.
I write this not as a brag column, but as information, a chance to take a moment and celebrate local journalism throughout the state. Every community that has active, local journalists is lucky. In the last few years, we’ve seen that number decrease, and every time that happens, a community suffers.
This week, the paper will be published as normal and by the time you read this, we’re working on next week’s edition. But we’re also taking a very short moment to appreciate how lucky we are to be in this industry and the importance of local journalism.
Happy National Newspaper week!
