National Newspaper Week is here, officially recognized from Oct. 2-8. Here at the Daily Journal, we welcome the opportunity to share important stories about our community and the broader world, and we take seriously our responsibility to report fairly, accurately and impartially.
But National Newspaper Week gives us an opportunity to tell you a little of our own story.
Though we are owned by a corporation and not all business is conducted here in Franklin, we are devoted to serving the community. Most staff members were born, raised or educated in Johnson County or on the southside of Indianapolis and we are proud to serve the community we call home.
For all the doom-saying we’ve heard for years about community newspapers in print and online, we continue to be a steadfast source of reliable news and information. These days, with the explosion of partisan websites across the political spectrum, you can get your news served up with any bias you like.
We are intentional about our coverage and different from a content aggregating robot posting and reposting items on social media looking to drive up clicks from a niche sliver of a particular demographic. The most important things that set newspapers apart are that our people are here, and they aim to serve everyone in this community as best they can.
We cover the city, county and school board meetings, ballgames and more that you’ll never see in another newspaper or on television. We watch what our public officials are up to, and as a watchdog for the public, we bark when something doesn’t seem quite right.
We’ve rushed out at night, early in the morning, on a weekend to cover shootings that have rocked the community all year, at the sacrifice of our personal time. Just like you, we’ve struggled with the idea that a mass shooting can happen here.
We take time to get to know people in our community, and we open our pages to them and to you.
Likewise, we open this Opinion page to anyone in our community who has a view to share as a letter to the editor.
Through our website, we strive to make local events easy to post, view and share with just a click or two. If something is happening in our community, tell us about it so we — and you — can let everyone know.
We can never lose sight of the fact that this newspaper is a business, and we would not exist without the support of our community’s readers, subscribers and advertisers. Reliable information is a valuable community asset, and our mission is to be this community’s indispensable source of reliable information.
As with all businesses, the pandemic years have been a challenge for newspapers, but we also understand that times of crisis are the times when newspapers are most essential. We provide consistent coverage and reliable information regarding how COVID affects our community, just as we are committed to do whenever challenges arise.
Our pages, those printed on paper and those published on the web, are a chronicle of the life of this community. Many of us who do this work feel a calling to serve, and we understand that only with your trust can we do that.
Another way we aim to serve is this: We welcome your input. If you tell us we made a mistake, we check it out. When we find we made a mistake, we correct it. That’s called accountability, and it represents and reinforces our abiding commitment to get the facts right.
That’s important not just for our credibility, but also for history. Because as we go about our work, we do so with the profound and humbling understanding that 100 years from now, when someone is trying to research or understand some aspect of our history, they will go to the local public library and look up old issues of this newspaper.
That’s our story, and we’re sticking to it.
