Last Updated on June 1, 2015 – 8:30 PM CDT
We kicked off the Moore County Journal a little over a week ago with a bang, and as I mentioned in the previous editorial, there is much more to come. As Karen Carpenter said, “We’ve only just begun.”
Next week, look for the addition of a classified ads section that will allow you to post your own ads, much like you do on Craigslist. We’ll start covering sports, and if you’ve perused the categories, you’ve seen one link titled Bien Venidos, Amigos! That will be the Spanish-language section of the Moore County Journal.
Our events calendar is being tweaked now and will be the go-to place to find out what’s happening in the county. In short, the Moore County Journal will be the premier news source for the area. It’s a lot of work, but as I’ve said all along, the community needs news that is unbiased, thoroughly investigated and free from the influence of people dictating what should and shouldn’t be reported.
Community newspapers are important, but a newspaper’s job is much more than selling ads to meet the corporate bottom line. When corporate doesn’t care about the editorial content of its newspapers, when it doesn’t care if it’s delivering a product that educates its readers about important community issues, then it’s just not a good neighbor. It’s not a good business because it doesn’t care about the product it’s delivering. It cares only about profit.
The community does need a place where it can go to get the news it needs to make informed decisions, to be entertained or to find a used washing machine. For years, Moore County hasn’t had that. The county hasn’t had a news organization that holds appointed and elected officials accountable, nor has it had a news organization that will take a stand on an issue that will determine the community’s future. It only has had news organizations that duck their heads and continue to ask advertisers to support them. A newspaper isn’t a charity. It should be delivering a quality product for the good money the advertisers and readers pay.
The Moore County Journal has been up only more than a week, and we’re demonstrating what a gung-ho news site can offer. At the end of June, every aspect of the site will be complete, so bear with us. You will have sports. You will have classifieds. You’ll have a news site that gives you everything you need. The number of views the site is reaping is proof of the community’s hunger for a professional news site. With only a portion of the site operational, the views are more than we imagined. When the whole site is up, when it’s serving readers from teenagers to seniors, then the views will be through the roof. No one but the Moore County Journal can or will give you all the news as quickly as we do.
So thank you to all who have been coming to the site, but buckle up. In the next couple of weeks, we’re going to take you to the moon.