Your local paper

June 8, 2009 in Leadership with 2 Comments

Do you read your local paper?  Mine is the Leaf Chronicle (I receive the Leaf Chronicle electronically, via e-mail, every day).  Is it the most well-done paper?  Probably not.  Is it the most widely circulated paper?  You answer that.  You likely have never heard of it.  It doesn’t have the best articles, the most extensive coverage, the widest reader base, or even have a version that’s released on the Kindle .  But it’s my local paper.

I live here.  I work here.  I’m raising my family here.  I consider myself a leader here.  Therefore, I need to know what’s going at the local level.  Sure, I can read blogs, talk with people, and go to city meetings, but I can’t be everywhere.  Neither can you.  The newspaper reports what is going on here in Clarksville.  And that’s important to me.

I had an unplanned, emergency meeting with somebody today.  Had I not read our local paper this morning, I would have been steps behind in the conversation.  I was greatly helped because I was knew many of the details before the meeting, as reported in the Leaf Chronicle.

Clarksville is my community.  If you consider yourself a leader in one way or another, you need to be involved in your local community.  The local newspaper is a great place to start.  Go ahead, try it.  Your community will thank you.  So will those you lead.

 

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  • Bill Schult

    Very well put, Ben.
    Occasionally I think “Why do I continue to get the Orlando Sentinel delivered when I could just visit the website every day?”
    The reason is just what you stated above. For someone my age, there is something more tangible about holding a newspaper in your hand and scanning through the headlines, finding articles that pique your interest, and reading about the ‘goings-on’ in your community. I normally don’t even look at the world headlines…I can get those anywhere.
    Hopefully, the newspapers will be able to adapt and survive, but, unfortunately, many are dying as other options for news (and gossip) become available.
    The Leaf Chronicle drove me nuts…I used to say that they were still using the original press that they had when they were ‘Tennessee’s oldest newspaper, founded in 1808′ (as The Chronicle, which in 1890 merged with the Tobacco Leaf….hence, the Leaf-Chronicle). But, when I lived in Clarksville, I subscribed and I read it because it was the local paper.
    Great insight!

  • benlreed

    Thanks, Bill. Thanks also for the history lesson on the Leaf-Chronicle! I never knew why, and never bothered to ask. Now I know. And knowing is half the battle…right?