“Your beliefs become your thoughts. Your thoughts become your words. Your words become your actions. Your actions become your habits. Your habits become your values. Your values become your destiny.” — Gandhi

Avid explorers of TheAlpenaNews.com may come across The News’ and Ogden Newspapers’ Statement of Values, available at TheAlpenaNews.com/statement-of-values.

In 636 words, the document makes clear promises to the communities we serve, those who read our work, and the employees who work for us.

We promise to be “a positive force” in our communities, and “our goal is to strengthen our communities through a principled philosophy that requires us to be part of the solution to improving life in our towns.”

To our readers, we vow to “produce fair, accurate, and engaging news, sports and feature content that allows our readers to make informed decisions on how best to engage with their communities.”

And, to our employees, we promise to “maintain a professional, fair, safe workplace that values our employees’ contributions to our mission and respects their role within our company.”

The document acts as a lighthouse shining on the dark waters of the Great Lakes, guiding the work of every employee in The News building, from the reporter who writes a front-page story to the graphic designer who lays out our ads to the mailroom crewmember who bundles the finished papers and readies them for delivery.

In short, our Statement of Values says that we work each and every day and night for you, Northeast Michigan.

Every story we write aims to arm you with the information you need to make informed decisions about how to vote, where to shop, where to live, where to send your kids to school, where to donate your money or where to volunteer, or otherwise how to get involved with the world around you.

Every ad we run aims to inform you about the offerings of businesses in your community and aims to support those businesses by encouraging customers to visit them so our community might thrive with unique local shops and restaurants.

Every obituary that appears in The News, in addition to informing you about the loss and how you can honor the late Northeast Michigander, aims also to tell the story of one of our neighbors so that story can be saved for the ages in The News archives.

Every paper we print aims to chronicle for future historians a slice of daily life in Northeast Michigan so historians might understand what life was like in 2024 in our corner of the world.

Every editorial we pen on our Commentary pages encourages civic engagement, government transparency, and government responsiveness so local, state, and federal government might represent the true will of the true majority of the populace.

In addition to all that, The News donates to local causes — the Independence Day fireworks show, local food banks, local service clubs, the Alpena Suicide Prevention Walk, just to name a few — so we can put our money where our mouth is and work to make Northeast Michigan a better place and create a better life for Northeast Michiganders.

And The News itself puts together local events — our Business Expo, Senior Expo, and July 4 Sandcastle Contest — that aim to further inform or entertain you and improve the quality of life in the Alpena area.

We are not voyeurs only watching the world around us and writing down the most salacious details so we might sell a few more papers.

We are active participants in our community, informing and educating so we can have a more engaged community working always to improve the world around us in ways big and small.

And everything we do is guided by that Statement of Values that says we will work with integrity and responsibility on behalf of our communities and our neighbors.

Plenty of research over the years has revealed all the bad things that can happen when a town loses its newspaper, from decreased voter participation to increased polarization and public corruption. The American Journalism Project does a good job of chronicling all that research here: theajp.org/news-insights/the-state-of-local-news-and-why-it-matters.

Conversely, that research indicates what newspapers do when they are part of their communities. They make for more active voters. They make for more bipartisan cooperation. They hold governments accountable, decreasing government corruption. They help local businesses thrive.

That impact we can have weighs heavy on our hearts and shoulders, guiding the values that guide us to help lead in our neighborhoods.

I’d encourage every reader to visit our website and read the full Statement of Values. As we hold people accountable, I’d encourage readers to hold us accountable for living up to our values.

If you feel we’re falling short, let me know.

Justin A. Hinkley can be reached at 989-354-3112 or jhinkley@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinHinkley.