HOT PURSUIT
Nothing excites me more than when I see someone else getting excited about the local newspaper, especially when it’s the Steele County Times.
It happened again last week, just as it happens most weeks with different readers. Carl Wieman of Owatonna emailed me last week after we published his guest column about that MS fundraising he and his wife have been doing for 24 years. After the story ran, several people reached out to him with generous donations for such a worthy cause of trying to find cures for multiple sclerosis.
Carl’s example is just one of many that I am fortunate to be a part of as readers share something thrilling that has happened to them because of the local newspaper.
If you’ve read this column with any regularity, you’ll know that I’ve highlighted the importance of why local journalism matters a time or two in the past several years.
Our industry has been constantly evolving over the past decade or more. While most of our readers still prefer the printed edition, we are making news available in other ways to meet readers where they are. That involves websites, mobile apps and email newsletters, all of which we have been doing for at least the past five years.
Change is inevitable. I have found that if you’re not changing, you’ll quickly get lost in this crazy world. I often don’t like change any more than the next person, but I know it’s necessary to keep going.
Even with all the change we encounter, I’d like readers to know that not everything has changed, and it’s something that greatly benefits all of us. Our standards haven’t changed. Accuracy, ethics and accountability still guide the work we do. Kay Fate, our seasoned senior writer, is currently teaching ethics for a citizen’s journalism class offered through the Minnesota Newspaper Institute. Her commitment in this statewide effort is a testament to our overall on-going focus of providing ethical journalism in a time where people are looking for information from a trusted source.
The communities within Steele County and surrounding area are strong when it comes to community involvement. I like to think Minnesota’s best weekly newspaper, which we were awarded earlier this year, has something to do with that. Strong community involvement comes as no accident. It comes from residents who are better informed, more engaged and more connected to each other. We offer all of that in the newspaper we produce every week.
I certainly will not suggest that the newspaper solves every challenge facing communities. But it makes civic life, local culture and the local economy all work better. Healthy communities are stronger when their local newspaper is strong.
Local newspapers provide a connection for residents to knowing what’s going on within their communities that no other source can. When is the last time you saw a state or national media outlet cover Steele County’s Relay for Life or Blooming Prairie’s Blossoms Forever Hall of Fame or even the on-going controversy with the Ellendale City Council? The answer is you haven’t and probably never will. We like to think we offer a special niche that can’t be found anywhere else.
The newspaper is a shining beacon featuring local journalism that matters.
Oct. 5-11 marks a special observance, National Newspaper Week. It’s a week to reflect on and reinforce the vital role newspapers play in informing, empowering, educating and uniting our communities. This year’s focus is on how local journalism is the heartbeat of informed communities. It brings stories to light that national outlets often overlook—stories about school board decisions, city council debates, neighborhood events and local heroes. All of these types of stories are featured regularly in our newspaper.
As we focus on the newspaper, here’s a call to action for you to ponder. To build a better future, we must all support local journalism through subscriptions, donations, advertising and sharing stories and information. We can’t survive without your help.
When it comes to newspapers, it goes so much beyond preserving the past. By embracing local journalism, we’re all going in hot pursuit of shaping a more informed, connected and empowered future.