Drive thoughtful discussion in your community

Newspaper swagger comes in part by being a driver of thoughtful discussions and conversations in your community.

Doing so, however, can be tricky.

Good newspapers are thought-leaders in their community — an institution where courage and action sit side by side. A place where news events can migrate from the front page to editorial page, with the newspaper making important observations and asking key questions.

A good friend of mine – and darn good newspaper publisher, too – Ken Esten Cooke, publisher of the Fredericksburg Standard-Radio described how his newspaper does so.

“It’s so important to objectively report on the important issues in our community, but then to also follow up with strong opinions on these subjects when warranted,” he said, recalling a news story about threats that led to the resignation of the county elections administrator. “Then we followed up with a strongly worded commentary saying there was no place for that kind of political bullying in our town.”

Easy as a Texas Two-Step: report, then offer commentary when the situation merits.

“We also came down hard against people who wanted to ram through book bans in our school district without the proper review of a committee that was in place. We paid a price for that, losing some subscribers and advertisers,” Ken said. “But I wrote then that while we suffered the slings and arrows for standing up for First Amendment issues, we wouldn’t be worth our salt if we didn’t. Even in our conservative town, a great majority of our subscribers respected us for that.”

Ken is one of the better newspaper people I know – someone I reach out to for advice – so it doesn’t surprise me he keeps his ear to the ground in his hometown. He’s just like most of us in the Texas Press Association: busy covering the news and making payroll. But he never takes his eye off the prize of serving our community and readers.

Readers want their newspaper to stand up for them, and to help them better understand the critical issues in their lives. In doing so, a newspaper earns an emotional place in the mind and heart of the community. And this bond earns “swagger points.”

Woven into a newspaper’s DNA is a gene that drives us to shake up the status quo when the powers that be get a bit too cocky or veer onto the wrong tack. Ken does that by reporting, then offering commentary.

Newspapering is not for the faint of heart. Heck, ask any TPA publisher. With economic challenges, finding people to come to work, and trying to figure out how to hang onto a few coins after putting out a paper, we all have a lot on our plate. But in the end, we need to remember we answer to our readers and subscribers. There are times when your newspaper is all that stands between someone trying to pull a fast one and a line of concerned citizens lining up at a public meeting to voice their concerns.

Let’s never forget that what we do with our editorial content matters greatly to our community. And if that gives you a little extra pep in your step, don’t be nervous – that’s called swagger.