Newspapers serve a multitude of purposes. First and foremost, they deliver the news be it local, the nation or the world, and send it our way daily or weekly. It’s their primary job. We read them, or at least the parts that interest us. Then we toss them aside. Newsprint has thousands uses once you have consumed the news. There’s no doubt about that.
How we all get our news has changed since the internet came into our lives. It has given us unlimited choices. The internet affords us more good and bad information than we can imagine. Still, a physical newspaper is still a very important thing to millions of readers each day. It is a familiar, real, in your hands, source. No internet connection necessary.
And so it is with the Press. If you live where a copy is easily obtained, you can pick one up in many places. It is also available on line, like almost every other paper in existence. It almost has to be. And this is where old news reporting and new news gathering collide.
Local news is what people want from their local paper. They want to know what’s going on in their community, and not just from the Facebook Marion Community page. It takes more effort to gather good information and a photo or two about an incident to get some real answers. It takes next to no time to post and rant.
There is a lot of talk about dogs running lose and backyard chickens. Everyone has an opinion. Does anyone know where else to air your complaints? Or where to go to get your question answered? Send your photos and complaints to the Press. Put it in real print and get some real answers.
The readership providing news stories and tips to newspapers is nothing new. The Marion Press relied on news submitted by others for much of its existence. No small town paper has a bevy of reporters in their employ. It’s impossible.
The roots of the Marion Press have been in existence since 1889, nearly as long as the Village has been official, for 135 years. Every small town around had one; the Evart Review, Tustin Times, and the McBain Chronicle were local competitors. Like many other small presses around the state, they are long gone. There are complaints about the Press; there have always been complaints,
There was a time here when folks didn’t consider themselves married unless a notice and church photo of the happy couple appeared in the Press. We announced the birth of our children in the paper. And the death of a Marionite wasn’t official until we read it in the Press and saw the notice in the post office window. Sometimes we cut things out to save and share. Sometimes we save entire papers, too valuable to toss. All kinds of school events appear in local print, especially those featuring the accomplishments of our kids, our school and our town. Where else are you going to find them?
So, read the Press. Read the ads and patronize the advertisers. Send your hometown news tidbits and photos to yourmarionpress@gmail.com or www.wilcoxnewspapers.com. It was a valuable thing to have our own local newspaper in the old days. It is more valuable now.
