As America celebrates its 250th anniversary and Colorado marks its 150th year of statehood, we have every reason to pause, reflect and celebrate the remarkable journey of our nation and our state.
Watching the Independence Day celebrations in Washington and the spectacular fireworks display reminded me how fortunate we are to live in the United States. It also reminded me how proud I am to have spent my career as a newspaper publisher.
Long before radio, television, the internet or smartphones, America’s first publishers carried the news of a growing nation. Working with hand presses and handset type, they printed newspapers one page at a time, often under difficult conditions.
Those newspapers carried the debates, declarations and ideas that shaped a new nation. Today, community newspapers remain vital to democracy by informing citizens, fostering accountability and strengthening civic engagement at the local level.
Among those early patriots was Benjamin Franklin, a printer, newspaper publisher and our nation’s first Postmaster General. Franklin understood that a free people depend upon the free exchange of ideas. Newspapers became the thread that connected the colonies, carrying information across great distances and helping unite citizens in the cause of liberty.
That tradition continues today.
While Americans have more ways than ever to communicate, we also face an overwhelming flood of information, opinion and misinformation. It is often difficult to separate fact from fiction.
That is where community newspapers continue to serve an essential purpose.
Today’s hometown newspapers have embraced modern technology, allowing readers to receive local news wherever they are—on computers, tablets and smartphones, as well as in traditional print. While the methods of delivery continue to evolve, our commitment to honest, accurate local journalism remains unchanged.
Equally important are the readers who choose to subscribe. A paid subscription is far more than the purchase of a newspaper. It is a vote of confidence in the value of local journalism and an investment in a well-informed community. Subscribers make it possible for hometown newspapers to continue covering city halls, county commissioners, school boards, local businesses, nonprofits, churches and civic organizations. Their support helps preserve one of the fundamental pillars of our democracy—a free and independent local press.
Publishing a newspaper has never been easy. Rising production costs, higher newsprint prices, increasing postal expenses and the loss of printing facilities across the country continue to challenge local publishers. Yet newspapers endure because informed citizens remain essential to a free society.
Our nation’s founders understood that truth. Recognizing the importance of newspapers, the early Congress established favorable postal rates for periodicals so news could reach citizens throughout the young republic. They believed an informed public was essential to preserving self-government.
Benjamin Franklin is widely credited with reminding his fellow Americans that they had been given “a republic, if you can keep it.”
Those words remain just as meaningful today.
Keeping our republic requires informed citizens, engaged communities and a free press willing to report honestly and fairly. Community newspapers continue to fulfill that responsibility every week in towns and cities across America.
As we celebrate America’s 250th birthday and Colorado’s 150th anniversary, let us also celebrate the hometown newspapers that have chronicled our history from the beginning and continue to tell the stories of our neighbors today.
A free press remains one of the cornerstones of a free nation. May it continue to inform, inspire and strengthen our republic for generations to come.