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As we wind down the celebration of a free press in our democracy this weekend, understand for a minute here just how incredibly fortunate you are.
Many of you are holding an actual newspaper made of newsprint and ink. That in and of itself is rare anymore.
Second, you live in a community and region that still values local news and views. Your support over the years confirms your belief in us, and we are appreciative of that support.
Did you know that of the 3,142 counties in the United States, today 212 of them have no local news source?
Did you know that since 2005, 3,500 newspapers in the U.S. have ceased operation?
But not you! Here in Northeast Michigan, we have a strong and vibrant newspaper whose staff strives hard every day to bring you the news of the region. It was like that when I was publisher of this newspaper, and it remains so today.
Is the newspaper perfect? Hardly.
Does the newspaper make mistakes or miss things? Yes, it does.
But the staff would promise you from the bottom of their hearts that they attempt each day to be the "mirror of the community" to you - reflecting back on the pages of the daily newspaper all the events and things going on across the communities of the region.
As local journalists, the staff is committed to bringing you just the facts, without any form of bias or opinion. If you examine every local story written or generated by one of the staff, you will see that to be true.
Over the years some have been critical of all journalism as being negative and biased.
And I would be the first to agree with you that unfortunate fact if we are referencing "big media" journalism. I am not happy about that observation, but more and more it can be seen in reporting - especially electronic reporting.
But Alpena certainly is not "big media" journalism. The staff are your neighbors and friends. They worship with you, shop with you at the grocery store and coach with you at the baseball diamonds.
Trust me, the last thing on their minds is to insert bias into a story when one day from now they will share a pew with a person from that story.
A local reporter needs to develop trust with their sources. Local reporters must stand on their reputation. Trust and reputation only can be built upon if the reporter is unbiased, fair and accurate in the stories they produce.
This is why local journalism is so important for local communities. This is why you can trust your local newspaper to present you the facts, and not a reporter's opinion.
Opinions are strictly kept to the editorial page, and if a local reporter shows up with a column on that page it should be of a subject not related directly to their coverage responsibilities at the newspaper.
When I was hiring reporters years ago, the first thing I reminded them of was that they were the historians of the region for future generations. As such, they had a huge responsibility to report accurately all that was happening.
It was a responsibility I believed was extremely important then, just as I still do today.
My wife, my oldest son and I all have made journalism not just a career, but a passion of ours. We believe it to be a noble calling. And Diane and I worked hard - while Jeremy still does – to give those in the communities where we have worked the assurance that stories were being reported accurately and fairly.
Local journalism is the heartbeat of the community.
Today, celebrate that heartbeat and keep it going strong well into the future.
Bill Speer retired in 2021 as the publisher and editor of The News. He can be reached at bspeer@thealpenanews.com.