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Editorials
Six decades of keeping your news 'hyper-local' : Editorials : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisSix decades of keeping your news 'hyper-local'
| 10/8/2009
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You probably haven't noticed it, but this is National Newspaper Week. It's an annual observance established by the National Newspaper Association intended to call attention to the importance of newspapers and a free press in our democratic society.
This year's observance comes at a time when the future of daily newspapers in the age of the Internet, texting and tweeting is subject to much debate. Sadly, many dailies now find themselves under siege as their readers look to the Internet and other sources for national and world news and commentary. In an effort to retain readers, some of the dailies are attempting to expand their local news coverage, reasoning much of it can't be found on the Internet. Going 'hyper-local' is what some in the daily newspaper business like to call it.
It's a whole different ballgame, however, for weekly community newspapers. Here at the Ledger-Sentinel we've been 'hyper-local' since the late Ford Lippold published the first edition of the Oswego Ledger in his home on Madison Street 60 years ago this fall.
With that first edition of the Ledger, Lippold began a tradition of local news coverage and editorial writing that has continued to this day. Just as importantly, Lippold invited his readers to actively participate in the paper by submitting letters to the editor, press releases from club and civic organizations, scores from local youth sports leagues, wedding and anniversary announcements and more.
In 1974 Dave Drier, an Oswego High School graduate and Boulder Hill resident, took the same approach to local news in establishing the Fox Valley Sentinel.
Evidence of just how well Lippold and Drier did their jobs as publishers can be found in the pages of their papers. Page through an Oswego Ledger from the 1950s or a Sentinel from the mid-1970s and you will feel like you are holding a time capsule. Each issue of those papers captured a moment in time in this community. There are editorials and letters to the editor on local issues, news articles on the happenings at the school and village board meetings, and, of course, press releases from local clubs and civic groups, and articles on local youth and high school sports.
In 1980, the Record Newspapers merged the Ledger and the Sentinel, creating the Ledger-Sentinel. Over the years the Ledger-Sentinel has grown along with the community, but our mission of covering local news has remained unchanged from the days of Lippold and Drier. We're still strictly local and we continue to appreciate and invite our readers' active participation. Together, we'll continue to keep the Ledger-Sentinel's focus 'hyper-local.'
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