Strong editorials are the heart of newspapers, communities

This week The Star News celebrates 150 years of serving the people of Taylor County.

In this week’s issue, as in the approximately 7,800 issues of this newspaper that have come before it, our writers, editors and photographers have worked to inform, educate, entertain and engage you, our readers.

We do that each week through coverage of meetings and community events and through feature stories about our neighbors who are facing challenges or overcoming obstacles to achieve great things. We strive to put a local face to regional, state and national issues that impact our area and our way of life.

We record the living history of our community from the triumphs that take place on the field or the playing court, to the tragedies and poor choices reflected in court pages.

Beyond just reporting on the events of the day, The Star News works to hold government accountable to the people. The Star News, like other community newspapers across the country, serves as a watchdog alerting voters and residents to concerns and the potential misuse of government authority. Community newspapers are the keepers of the community’s collective memory and an outlet for the community’s conscience and the values carried over from one generation of residents to another.

Since its founding, The Star News has not been shy about having a strong editorial voice. Over the past century and a half, that voice has celebrated success, called for community investment, urged action on issues of importance, while holding elected officials accountable both for their actions and inactions.

The newspaper’s strong editorial voice goes back to its founding.

In 1876, owner and publisher John Ogden wrote: “We were taught in childhood that if we were smote on one cheek to turn the other, but experience has taught us that the better way to do is to strike from the shoulder just before your enemy’s hand reaches the cheek. This is our style, and when we cannot fight our way clear ahead, then we quit the newspaper business and not until then … The News will not keep its tongue bridled, not even to please its mothers; it will speak at a funeral too, if necessary.”

Ogden, an outspoken community leader in his own right, wrote those words after taking over full ownership of the paper 10 months after founding it with his brother F.E. Ogden.

The paper’s strong editorial stance on issues has not been about making friends or currying favor with the powers that be, but rather has been to serve you, our readers.

On our news pages we present the facts as they are known. On the editorial and opinion pages, we work to give context to those facts and support or opposition to issues that will impact the community today and for years to come.

At times this editorial voice has been brash and abrasive, reflective of the personalities and writing styles of the editors who have passed the baton of writing them from one generation to another. Our goal is not to make friends, but to serve all members of the community, even those without a voice.

Throughout all those papers and the tens of thousands of words of copy, The Star News has worked to keep its eyes on the horizon and what lies ahead and to continue to serve as the bridge between the community’s memory and its possibility.