The Columbian-Progress published 1,638 local news stories in the past 12 months. That’s an extraordinary output for an organization with only two full-time journalists on its editorial staff.
It’s our business, of course, but I promise you that no one gets into this profession solely as a means to make money. It has to be a passion for reporting the news to serve your community or you’ll be burned out within a month. I’ve been doing it for 11 years now, and I still think it’s the best and most important job in the world.
As we celebrate National Newspaper Week, it’s an appropriate time to think about the unique contributions that this particular newspaper makes to its particular community. I firmly believe that we remain the dominant media for news and advertising in Columbia and Marion County, something we need a reminder of from time to time:
1. We are almost always the sole news organization covering important local issues. In the past year that has included annexation plans by the city of Columbia and the potential local impacts on the Pearl River by a proposed lake in Jackson. Both of those issues have resounded on an extraordinary level with readers because they see the importance to them. There is a great need for a fair presentation of facts about such matters,
and the newspaper is the sole entity with the interest, resources and neutral point of view to provide that necessary information to the citizenry. I counted 20 stories we’ve published in the past year on “One Lake” and 17 related to annexation. We’ll continue to stay on top of them.
2. Our coverage of people’s lives helps build community. For example, very few communities in football-mad South Mississippi have the level of coverage we provide for Columbia Academy, Columbia High, East Marion and West Marion high schools. It’s a lot of time, energy and money we expend doing that, but it’s worth it to recognize the passion displayed by the young athletes, their coaches and their fans. There are many more areas like that where the newspaper’s coverage helps to solidify the importance of what people in Marion County are doing by promoting it in a credible way.
3. We have a commitment to being both accurate and fair. Sometimes fairness gets lost by the increasingly partisan national press. I read a front-page New York Times story Sunday that was virtually indistinguishable from an opinion piece, for example. Yet we remain committed to walking in the old paths of journalism that have had their wisdom proven through time: Leaving our opinions out of the news, giving equal treatment to all sides and admitting when we’re wrong. I’m confident those values will prove timeless.
Charlie Smith is editor and publisher of The Columbian-Progress. He may be reached at (601) 736-2611 or csmith@columbianprogress.com.
