The Sun-Gazette has existed, in one form or another, for nearly 225 years.

It should be no surprise that journalism and the public’s expectations for newspapers and other media have changed in those years.

At one time, 200 to 150 years ago, newspapers generally were aligned with political machines. Some newspapers promoted the interests of a politician and the bureaucracies and factions they built, some promoted the interests of parties. You can still see remnants of this in the names of some newspapers — the Republican-Herald in Pottsville and the Tribune-Democrat in Johnstown, for just two examples in Pennsylvania.

But long gone are the days when Sun-Gazette editor and publisher William F. Packer could collaborate with the Democratic Party so effectively that he himself was elected to the legislature, statewide office and, in 1857, governor.

And for good reason. The public grew appropriately skeptical that newspapers aligned with political machines could hold those machines’ politicians accountable. For that, Americans — the taxpaying constituents of those politicians — needed a media with autonomy and independence from political concerns, politicians and their advocates.

There is, of course, media that offers readers and viewers ideological alignment — magazines like National Review and Commentary on the right, The Nation and Mother Jones on the left — and that fill a useful role in letting voters know what principles, what practical concerns and what perceptions influence the viewpoints of political leaders and ideologically minded voters.

But for much of what community members need to know — about how their local and county governments function, about what decisions are being made, about how safe their streets are or not — independent reporting and journalism with the autonomy to listen and report on what both sides– or often all sides — say plays a vital role in equipping voters to reach their own conclusions about government — in forming the opinions that will determine how they vote, based on foundations of facts and divergent viewpoints.

The Sun-Gazette offers those facts through our coverage of public record and public meetings, from school boards and sentencings to municipal councils and legislative votes. The Sun-Gazette offers that variety of viewpoints in its coverage of what your neighbors — community members and politicians alike — have to say and in its publication of letters to the editor, op-ed columns and cartoons.

The Williamsport Sun-Gazette remains committed to the principle that such independence and autonomy matter.