Our view: When it comes to news, bring it

 

January 20, 2023



It’s been just more than four years since this little experiment called the Pine Knot News began. By this time next week, members of the staff here, and contributors, will be coming home with more hardware from the Minnesota Newspaper Association annual conference, awards for excellence in journalism. And, perhaps, Millie, the Mills Trophy, will remain in our office window, as it has for two years now as we bask in the knowledge that we’ve been judged the best weekly newspaper in the state.

We can’t express the notion of our competence enough. We are the newspaper of record in this corner of the world. Each week, we strive to bring a product that is useful, entertaining, and, most of all, curious — continuing to explore a place we call home.

One doesn’t have to go far to realize how odd, and lucky, our coverage area is to have a reliable and award-winning news team on the spot. Ask people in Duluth how they feel about local news coverage, or people in any place we now call “news deserts” or places with “ghost newspapers” where the happenings of every day are going unchecked, unnoticed and unreported.

So here we are. We ask a lot of our readers. Subscribe, yes. React, yes. And, what we can’t stress enough, come to us when you feel something needs some coverage, some expertise. We live in a world of social media, where people have eyes and ears on things but rarely any definitive answers. That’s where your local news gatherers come in. We know who to call and how to get to the bottom of issues.

There are myriad examples of this in the Pine Knot News in the past few months. Public governing bodies going into secret mode. People wondering about a seemingly lost dog and its fate. The history of things, like the jug game that is no more in Carlton and Wrenshall.

While we embrace the exchanges people might find fascinating on social media, we know there is often a feeling of “Now what?” As journalists, we thrive on the Who-What-Why-Where-When of things, and will bring it to you as best we can.

Post away, but please remember a few things when you do. Contact the Pine Knot. Let us know what your questions are, and we will resolve to answer them.

On the business side of things, please support what we know, and you likely know, is this treasure of a newspaper. Advertise. We are in the winter doldrums, but readers still need to know where to go to spend money.

And it is likely that you are a subscriber if you are reading this. Be part of our street team and keep the word out about your favorite local paper, and urge others to subscribe as well.

We are all in this together, so help us keep the circle of information going.

Contact the Pine Knot News by email at [email protected], and call editor Jana Peterson at 218-213-1231.

 
 

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