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(EDITOR'S NOTE: This coming week is National Newspaper Week, a time to celebrate newspapers and community journalism as a cornerstone of our democracy and freedom. Thanks to all newspaper readers and advertisers for supporting the good fight.)
Mrs. Jordan, an 80-year-old, longtime newspaper subscriber, recently called me to ask what channel the Little League Baseball World Series U.S. championship game would be on.
I called her and told her.
Not long after, Mr. Benson -- a 20-year-old local resident -- sent the paper a Facebook message asking when the community's Grand slam parade in celebration of the LL World Series would step off.
We messaged him back the answer.
Our newspaper staff offers this kind of information every day -- in the many ways people seek our service.
Why?
We are the "go to" source for trusted, credible and timely information about what's going on in the neighborhoods, downtowns, townships and counties in our markets.
We are needed!
We answer emails.
We answer phone calls.
We answer social media posts.
We respond to questions and comments on our X accounts.
We answer questions and comments on our YouTube channel.
We communicate with our many letter writers.
With so much growth in our on-line patrons, combined with our steadfast print readers, our audience -- and our market reach -- are larger than ever.
We post breaking news regularly -- making our web sites the most dynamic of any our competitors -- who very often take our content and aggregate it (without proper, respectful sourcing, I might add.)
We produce news and feature videos on a weekly basis to complement our written stories and photographs.
We offer more depth to our stories in our print editions – satisfying the wonderful people who still prefer a paper newspaper in their hands to read.
Community journalism is our calling - our duty.
We take it seriously.
We admit and correct our mistakes.
The point is: Community newspapers are fighting the good fight, often having to clarify or correct the gobbledegook on the web.
We focus on people - mostly the good they do but also the bad. And we keep our readers informed about local government decisions – one of our most important responsibilities.
We work to protect your freedoms -- and to keep our public servants accountable.
Sure, we have challenges -- many businesses do.
We have to help put food on our employees' tables -- we can't just dole it all out for free.
So the next time you read a news story, check out who reported it first and/or more in depth.
Most of the time, you'll find it's your community newspaper.
Bob Rolley is publisher of the Williamsport Sun-Gazette and The (Lock Haven) Express community newspapers.