Thank you.
We want to take this opportunity during National Newspaper Week, observed through Saturday, to thank you, our readers.
You are the people we write for, and about.
A newspaper is a vehicle to share information about our community.
It chronicles the activities of people, from volunteers to public officials to high school athletes. It marks milestones, including births, marriages, achievements and deaths. It reports actions proposed and approved by the people you elect to make decisions about public education and about governing on the local, state and federal levels.
Here are some insights other industry leaders have shared for National Newspaper Week.
• "The fact is: the Internet is no enemy of a good community newspaper. The enemy of a good newspaper is indifference. A community that doesn't care about honesty and clean government, effective schools, invigorating community service or the connections that bind us into a functioning society is a community that doesn't need a newspaper. That community won't be around long." - Robert M. Williams, Jr., publisher of the Blackshear (Ga.) Times and president of the National Newspaper Association.
• "It is our awesome responsibility - and our privilege - to stand up and speak out, with integrity, truth and determination, with every word we print." - Lynn Richardson, president of the Tennessee Press Association.
• "Trust in our public institutions is on a steady decline, and sturdy journalism is going to be the only reliable way for average Americans to glean the truth from a stream of conflicting information disseminated by political partisans and vested interests." - Ted R. Rayburn, editorial page editor of The Tennessean, in Nashville.
• "In a quest to be more modern, to be more business savvy, or to use more silicon, we cannot lose sight of the single most important characteristic and historically important aspect of a quality newspaper - you - our readers." - Jim Zachary, editor of the Clayton News Daily and the Henry Daily Herald in metro Atlanta.
Advances in technology have increased the ways we gather, and deliver, the news. Whether you receive a traditional print product delivered to your home, access the newspaper online or follow our digital breaking news updates, our focus remains the same.
We strive to deliver the range of information you need and want to know - whether that is construction in your neighborhood, money-saving coupons or who won last night's game.
Community is about connections. During National Newspaper Week, we thank you for sharing your stories and inviting us into your homes.