Did you know...?
Working and learning for you!
This past weekend the staff at the Chief were able to gather with people from other newspapers all over the state at the 2022 Nebraska Press Association convention. With COVID, it has been since 2019 we have been able to gather as like-minded people as group. The educational programs were beneficial for us to better serve you and the networking will help us move forward. We are excited about new relationships we were able to form.
It was refreshing to learn how vital and important local papers are for the state. Interesting, two papers that had been in operations for years were sold to young individuals. One owner returned to her local paper after graduation; one graduated college and then went to an area that had a paper for sale. Both were told how appreciative the communities were for them stepping in to keep the local going.
Even though the Chief has been printing for 130 years, with each publication, we hope you believe we are keeping you informed and spotlighting the area. We work each week to keep the Chief going for you. In the future, I will be holding some focus groups to find out how we can better serve. If you already know you want to take part, call me at 308-872-2471 or email generalmanager@custercountychief. com. My goal is to get this done in the summer.
As you know, over the years, the staff at the Chief has changed. We are very appreciative of the individuals who are helping us keep the local youth on the pages. We will be bringing some education also for them that we are looking forward to.
We are excited about a new program for the area schools called “Kids Scoop,” a paper designed just for kids! There are studies that show how important it is for the youth to read, you all know that. Sponsorships will be very important. If we can get this program up and off the ground, we will be able to put 1.5 million words on pages for youth to read in a year!
As you saw on page one, the Chief brought home awards. On the comment page Meghan received, the judges said, “‘Write what you know,’ and whoever wrote that took her own advice to heart, because she indeed wrote what she knew. We are grateful to get to know Meghan G’Schwind a little better, too. It’s sometime a bit dangerous to take the reporter’s notebook approach - no one wants to turn a feature story into a blog entry - but Meghan had nothing to worry about. She may have only lived in Nebraska for a couple years, but she’s truly found her home, and the reader can feel it in every word.”
When we talked about Meghan writing this kind of story, she was a bit concerned how it would be perceived, writing about her family. I wanted her to go ahead and write it. I felt, for the G’Schwind family, how special it would be to get their history on the pages to document and even more special, it was written by Meghan, a new member of the family.
As we go forward, we look for more stories about families that Meghan will write. We also ask that you tell us about your family or maybe a neighbor that we can feature.
The judges said about Mona’s article on the explosion in Taylor, “Great details, lots of voices and a good look at the long-term impact of the explosion that hit this small town.” The community of Taylor is just north of the Custer County line; for years the Chief has covered the community. That explosion did not shake Broken Bow, but it shook our readership.
Bottom line, at the convention, we talked to other newspaper people who consume their days, weeks and months looking for, writing and placing news on pages for readers.
The Chief celebrated 130 years in April,. With the refresher course we received getting together with other Nebraska Press Association members, we can and will keep writing words and putting pictures on pages for you.