We ran an editorial early last week lauding the important job that local media plays in society. The piece was written as part of National Newspaper Week.

Granted, we realize we aren’t the only industry or special interest to hold its own personal celebration.

But while many of those special weeks are intended for fun, I believe National Newspaper Week creates an important opportunity to remind readers about what we provide and the critical information, news and entertainment that readers of local newspapers like this one simply cannot easily receive in one, well-organized medium.

We take very seriously our duty to accurately and thoroughly report the news of our communities to you. That could include the responsibility of reporting on local city council or boards of education meetings, it could include analyzing public spending or reporting on local police reports — whether it’s chasing down information on a serious crime or gathering police blotters so you know what’s going on in your neighborhood.

Where else can you read about local high school sports, and have the ability to clip and save stories and photos when it’s your son or granddaughter who scored the winning goal or placed high in the varsity cross country meet?

You can read stories on health topics of interest, local community theater, important Valley business growth, local or national politics, get some new recipes and even, sadly, read the obituaries of friends or neighbors you might know.

This month, you’ll be able to read locally reported stories about political candidates seeking county commissioner seats, Ohio Statehouse posts, U.S. Senate and many more posts or issues. We are taking time to interview many candidates and share their positions so you can be educated and informed when you go to the polls in coming weeks. In some races we will share our endorsements on this newspaper’s Opinion pages.

We always realize, however, that our commentary is only one opinion. We invite our readers to share your own respectful opinions on important issues via letters to the editor, published each weekend.

Most importantly, on our news pages you’ll find balanced information generally presenting all sides, so that you can become informed and make your own personal decisions.

We also know how hard we must work to earn your trust. Frankly, that becomes more challenging every day as the world becomes more divisive, as readers have more choices of news sources and as people spend increasingly more time seeking out only one side of news events that they desire to read or hear.

In my humble opinion, doing that is very, very dangerous because it limits our ability to grow, learn and be educated. The opportunity we, as Americans, have to become educated and be free thinkers simply is not available everywhere in the world. And that, dear reader, is one thing that helps to make America great.

Even the father of our country knew that early on. “If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter,” George Washington once said.

Local reporting and, yes, community newspapers like this one are crucial to ensuring that does not happen, and they are crucial to our democracy.

Report after report studying this issue has determined that sense of community and trust in democracy consistently dip when journalism is diminished. (And by journalism, I mean balanced, real journalism — not a bunch of pundits blathering around the clock on a cable news network about their opinions on issues of the day, arguing that anyone who disagrees is just plain wrong.)

“The fate of communities across the country — and of grassroots democracy itself — is linked to the vitality of local journalism,” stated researchers in one such report released a few years ago by the University of Carolina.

Data also suggests a direct correlation between consumption of local news and civic engagement. That is, if you consume local news, you’re more likely to vote, contact local officials and participate in other forms of civic and democratic engagement.

And that, too, helps to make America great.

blinert@tribtoday.com