Community newspapers remain a necessity

About 83 percent of Pennsylvanians read the print or digital edition of a newspaper every week.

Oct. 2-8 marks the 76th anniversary of National Newspaper Week. The annual observance celebrates and emphasizes the impact of newspapers on large and small communities throughout the country. According to the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, 83 percent of Pennsylvanians read the print or digital edition of a newspaper every week. PNA also found that newspapers rate 20 percent higher than television for explaining the most important local news and information.

Newspapers matter, for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the watchdog and oversight function they provide. If community newspapers cease to exist, so will that level of oversight. And once it’s gone, it’s not coming back.

We can talk about the importance of newspapers in the abstract, but hard evidence is always more effective.

Recently, a series of LNP articles and editorials shed light on the Manheim Township school board’s violation of the state’s open meetings law, the abrupt and unexplained resignation of a superintendent, and the district’s solid financial picture despite program cuts and deficit warnings. LNP and three staffers won the 2016 G. Richard Dew Award, PNA’s most prestigious award for excellence in journalism.

Self-promotion aside, the coverage of Manheim Township School District is a vivid example of why community newspapers are still relevant, even in an age when seemingly limitless news sources are engaged in a constant battle for our attention.

Without LNP’s relationship in the community, and countless hours logged digging for information, what happened in the school district would have remained a secret.

The break in that case came from an audio recording delivered to LNP anonymously. The recording revealed that the school board conspired to deliberate privately on its search for a new superintendent.

The judges for the Dew Award wrote of LNP’s coverage: “The community response to published articles and the fact that a person trusted a reporter enough to leak an audio tape so the truth could be told is exactly what this award is intended to honor — the trust a community gives its newspaper to right a wrong.”

Pennsylvania’s auditor general is launching an audit of Manheim Township School District this month. The audit will happen directly because of LNP’s scrutiny of the district’s spending and lack of transparency.

And something else happened as a result of the coverage. Other elected officials and municipalities noticed.

Lancaster County Commissioners began providing more information about executive sessions. School districts began posting more information on their websites. One school board even admitted to and quickly apologized for inadvertently violating the Sunshine Act when members deliberated privately on a board appointee.

The media, and local newspapers in particular, play an important role in ensuring transparency in government and other public institutions. It’s one of the main reasons we exist. Manheim Township is Exhibit A.

There’s a reason you’ll find a big stack of local newspapers in every television newsroom. It’s because they are monitoring our coverage; unique in its detail, thoroughness and the level of depth.

This is what we do.

The judges for the Dew Award wrote of LNP’s coverage: “The community response to published articles and the fact that a person trusted a reporter enough to leak an audio tape so the truth could be told is exactly what this award is intended to honor — the trust a community gives its newspaper to right a wrong.”