Cant change whats happened til now
But we can change what we will be
For Such a Time As This – Wayne Watson
Returning to the same song as the column in our August 15 e-edition of the Plainsman, the message of the song by Wayne Watson is aimed at the church, but it can be adapted very well in the current situation at the paper.
Watsons tune is meant to encourage all members of the church body in their importance. All too often in the church, an elder or a member of the clergy is viewed as being in charge of doing the work of the church, and then parishioners are surprised and even upset when something doesnt get done within the church. In a Christian church, Jesus calls all members to be ministers of the Gospel, not just those who have been appointed to specific positions within the church. The church benefits when all members are working together in a common mission.
Its become very true in the world of local, community-focused news reporting.
Certainly, we all can have our own bias when it comes to world events and even statewide events, and the opinion page is a great place to express that, but the rest of the newspaper should be focused on providing you, the reader, the most coverage of local events with as unbiased a lens as possible.
Change has always been part of the heartbeat of local news coverage. The Plainsman began as The Daily Huronite in 1886, and by the turn of the century, the paper was producing multiple editions every day. As the country kicked into an industrial force during the early 1940s, the newspaper was printing three regular editions each day, along with special editions for major worldwide news events.
When I was growing up in the 1980s, the Plainsman was printed every day of the week, but I hadnt graduated from high school before the publication schedule changed to six days a week. In 2020, the pandemic forced the hand of our publisher, and we moved to five days per week.
In those five days per week until August 6, we were printing between 55 and 65 pages of newsprint per week. Many are frustrated that the paper will be printed two days per week moving forward, but we are very likely going to print a similar number of pages per week.
Throughout the nine days before the sale of the paper was official, many Huron and area community members reached out to ask what they could do to help the paper. When we printed that first e-edition last Friday, multiple people reiterated their desire to help. So, how exactly can you help us at this time?
First and foremost, be patient. We are starting anew with new ownership, a new model for doing things, and new responsibilities for many throughout the paper. Those duties are likely to continue shifting as we find our new normal.
A great example of that point is emails. Our access to our previous email has been shut down since Aug. 8. That is a big reason why you dont see police log or court news in todays paper. There will be some hiccups like that as we get things back up off the ground.
Second, share with us. We will have three newsroom members full-time to cover eight counties, and we want to feature the happenings of all of the small towns that make up the Heartland Region, so please reach out with your photos of community events, your information about school events in your community and the happenings in each town.
Finally, we are a community news source, and that is what we will remain. That means that we always welcome news tips and information, but we also have to go through proper channels to verify before publishing.
More than anything, the support we have felt over the past week-plus has been incredible. Remember how much you worried about becoming a news desert when Aug. 6 happened, and support the work of your local newspaper, even if some of the decisions or changes arent exactly how you would prefer. Buy a subscription, share the stories you enjoy on your social media and with your friends, and keep the joy of community-focused news alive and thriving in Huron and the surrounding area.
As the quoted line says, what has happened has happened, but we can change how we respond to that. Lets work together to make the next chapter of the Plainsman the best one so far.
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