Your local newspaper wins top awards

Please join me in congratulating our news staff for winning 19 awards, including the General Excellence award for being the best large weekly in the state, at the recent Kentucky Press Association’s winter convention.

Don Estep is publisher of the News Journal.

I hope that I can impress upon you the fact that this newspaper has won the top award five out of the last six years and you have, right here in our area, one of the best weekly newspapers in the state.

How do you do this year after year you may ask? It is a combination of things. For one, we have good reporters. They not only are good writers, they also cover the stories that are necessary to make a newspaper a good one.

This includes not only breaking news like fires, vehicle accidents, etc., but also coverage of the county and city business, the reporting of school board activities, happenings on the social scene and many other things that constitute complete coverage of the area’s news and sports.

To do this they must be skilled and our reporters are. Mark White is our news editor and he has been covering news in this area for about 30 years. Likewise, Dean Manning and Jennifer Perkins have solid backgrounds in news coverage. I realize that not everybody cares about what is happening in our area, but for those that do a newspaper is invaluable. Don’t ever believe you could stay informed via the Internet. The inaccuracies would be worse than a supermarket tabloid.

But to have a newspaper survive it must have advertising. Some may think that buying a copy of the newspapers or subscribing to it is a money maker. Not true. Basically what we charge for the newspaper covers the cost of printing and delivery.

It all comes back to supporting your local newspaper by advertising in it. You will notice that our newspaper is no longer as big as it used to be. Every newspaper has been hurt by advertisers spending their money on the Internet and Covid-19. Some have had to shut their doors.

Then you have several local businesses that spend their money with Lexington TV stations, out of the area Billboards and out of state publications.

If those work for them, then that is a good choice. But they also would benefit by advertising locally and that means in this newspaper too. We reach thousands every week.

Before the big box stores came into being local merchants supported the local media. To make matters even worse, General Motors, Ford, Toyota, and other manufacturers allowed one dealer to carry all brands, thus it denied you the bargaining rights and the media the advertising.

Local merchants don’t like for you to buy out of town. I don’t like it either. I had rather you support local businesses and that includes us at this newspaper.

Local businesses bear the responsibility of supporting a local news media. It will benefit them and the community.