I was recently asked to speak to a community group about my office‘s open government efforts, including our initiative to encourage local governments to post their spending details on the Internet. During the question-and-answer session, someone broadened my topic by asking me to name some factors I feel are important to a community’s quality of life.
I took the opportunity to speak about the important role that community newspapers play. I’ve always had a fondness for weekly newspapers and other local publications. I even sit down once a week – usually on Thursday evenings – to write a column specifically for community newspapers.
Community newspapers help strengthen the communities they serve. They boost local economies, both through inexpensive advertising and in their news coverage, which is especially important at a time we need to be shopping locally and preserving jobs in the community. They allow mom-and-pop businesses to reach their most likely customers. They bring us “good news” – news of student achievements, civic club projects, church bake sales, family reunions and little league registration. They allow neighbors to get to know each other a little better. Community newspapers provide a forum for expression, a place for residents to deliberate on local issues.
A community newspaper certainly isn’t the only place to get information, but it’s usually the most trustworthy. The people who operate these publications live and work in the communities they serve. They share your values and concerns. They care about your community because they’re so much a part of it.
Importantly, these local publications help advance the cause of open government. They allow citizens to see how decisions that affect them are made. Some serve as “watchdogs” holding local officials accountable.
Imagine your community without the paper you hold in your hand: Discussions by your local town or county council, or the local school board, might never face public scrutiny. Citizens would miss out on important information about issues that affect them. Your local government could approve a ten-story apartment building or a smelly sewage-treatment plant in your neighborhood and you might never know until the construction crews arrived.
In pushing state and local governments to become more transparent, my own efforts have largely focused on using the relatively new tool of the Internet to put public information at people’s fingertips like never before. Given the Information Age in which we live, it’s not unreasonable to expect easy, click-of-a-mouse access to public records. But let's be thankful for the vital role of community newspapers in pulling back the curtains of government, giving people a peek inside their government, and keeping them informed.