Is your community newspaper a ‘keeper?’

Life has a way of righting itself, but not before hard lessons at times. This newspaper is no exception. We have had good years, and some not so good years. If you are reading this, you are most likely one of our regulars, the readers in society, and have been with us through thick and thin. I will never forget a loyal customer saying to me, “I read every newspaper, good or bad, and some years have been bad.”

As we begin the 2025 National Newspaper Week, I am asking each of you, regardless of your experiences or assumptions from the past, to take a fresh look at what we as a newspaper group are striving to provide to our community.

1. Consistent place to find all obituaries, public notices, upcoming events, school/city/county meeting coverage, voting dates/locations, accurate and local coverage of current events.
2. We have educated, local journalists with a combined experience exceeding 80 years.
3. We have an in-house marketing team that seeks to help businesses and individuals get their message to the community about their products and services in a professional manner. Our design services are provided to the advertisers at no additional cost. The more we partner with local businesses, the more it promotes shopping local efforts.
4. We provide $1.1 million in annual payroll to local families, supporting East Texas and this community.
5. Extras include church pages, kid pages, food pages, crossword puzzles, contests, outdoors and sports coverage, columnists, and special sections supporting community events throughout the year.
6. We are the proud publishers of a regional magazine, the East Texan, sold, written, and produced solely by our newspaper staff, and distributed throughout a 28-county region.
7. Finally, we are providing news on whatever platform you are most comfortable using. This includes the printed paper, the digital paper, a twice weekly email newsletter, social media posts, and on easttexasnews.com.

Thank you again to all our loyal readers and advertisers. We will continue striving to be a good neighbor, a community partner, and a “keeper.”