Editorial
This is National Newspaper Week, a time to reflect on what freedom of the press and freedom of speech, as written in the First Amendment of the Constitution, means. The Founding Fathers recognized that a free press; free to criticize the government, investigate wrongdoing, and report on news of importance to a community, was essential to a functioning democracy.
Today, of course, press freedoms extend to broadcast media, websites, podcasts, newsletters, texts, TikTok videos and a breadth of media that James Madison and Thomas Jefferson could never envision. But in thousands of communities like ours, local newspapers fulfill the functions of a free press as explicitly spelled out in the Constitution.
In most small towns such as ours, the local newspaper is the only entity regularly covering local government, local schools, courts, police and emergency services, as well as local events, breaking news like fires and other disasters, and recognizing community servants and unsung heroes. The 2025 State of Local News report by Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism revealed that there are more than 1,500 counties in the United States served by only one news media outlet. In almost all of those counties, the news source is a local newspaper.
Often, local news published by newspapers is picked up by social media and other digital sources, leading some to think that they can just get their news from those sources. They are unaware that a reporter sat in a city council meeting and then wrote a story. An editor reviewed that story and fact-checked it. Production staff included the story on a page in a print edition, or put it on the paper’s website, social media sites or email newsletter. That news didn’t just magically appear on a phone.
Local newspapers are challenged. Most everyone is aware of what’s happened to papers they read, or used to read. The revenue model that sustained them for decades is broken as small towns have fewer locally owned and operated businesses that knew the value of the readership of their local paper. Even with most papers having much of their content online, that hasn’t been enough to offset the loss of local advertising. Most local newspapers are like farmers these days: they need to supplement their income from other sources to survive.
The News-Gazette has been fortunate to be located where we are. We have a strong local economy, though one with much fewer local businesses than in years past. We have loyal readers, subscribers and advertisers. We’ve been fortunate that other publishing ventures we’ve undertaken have provided additional revenue. But, this isn’t enough to sustain the level of journalism and content that we think this community needs and deserves. So, we’re asking those that value what we do to consider contributing to maintaining our newsroom.
We see our new business model being a four-legged stool: one leg is traditional advertising revenue, one leg is subscriptions, the third leg is our outside publishing, and the fourth leg needs to be donor support.
The News-Gazette and its predecessors have endured for 225 years, through wars, fires, shortages, pandemics and depressions. It has always been able to adapt and meet the challenges and continue to bring local news to our county and cities. Our calling here at the paper is to ensure that it continues to serve the community for years to come.
Promoting National Newspaper Week seems a little like tooting our own horn, but it gives us a chance to tell you what the management of this paper sees for the future of The News-Gazette. We’re committed to keeping local news alive and well in Rockbridge.
