This new year, I want to say thank you to our readers far and wide. I also thank my reporters, freelancers and volunteers, who continue to put in extra effort week by week to cover important issues facing our community, work that is incredibly important. Our 2025 year in review, published last week, shows that dedication in a big way.
At this time, we’re preparing to enter our award submissions in news and advertising. Every year, we compete with other newspapers across the nation, and it’s something we look forward to because hearing others complement our publication is always an honor, especially when more areas are being designated as news deserts.
Even in places where papers are still around, I sometimes find coverage and staffing are declining for other reasons in addition to loss in revenue. First, larger corporate owners usually know little about the small towns in which they operate. Second, they likely bought the paper with other intentions, and local news was a small byproduct of a bigger goal.
The value of local news is an investment in community. I served as the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association’s board of directors’ president in 2025 — it was a busy year, and the number of newspapers across the state of Oregon is thinner than ever before. However, there are heroes, and I enjoy visiting with colleagues who have pushed the envelope to keep their stands flush with new content. I met someone who closed their office and now shares a location in a local brewpub, and another who makes copies on an office copier of their newspaper and distributes them for sale in their small, rural town. It is impressive the dedication that a local news team holds. I see it in our own town.
We will keep putting in time and commitment to our communities in a print edition, and we hope you will keep supporting the little newspaper with big news.
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