Communities across the nation, many a lot like Hinesville and Liberty County are losing something.
I’m not talking about racial harmony, that’s something that can’t be achieved overnight, or over decades, it seems. For every step we think we make towards that goal, there are many, on both sides of the table, who believe it’s in their best interest to keep the unrest going.
I personally believe we can achieve some semblance of harmony, but as the world has proven time and time again, there will always be the dissenters who can’t be pleased and their life’s goal is to continue unrest.
However, I believe we as a community cannot lose the very platform from which I write, while we certainly have our dissenters, and there are many, who say newspapers aren’t important and should go the way of the dinosaurs.
Wrong.
Your community newspaper, your community newspaper, is your very last wall of defense. Your community newspaper is the one place where news is not slanted towards one party or another, not slanted to one political office or business venture. Your community newspaper is the place where you will read or consume important facts about subjects and topics that directly impact your day to day life.
As publisher, I field several phone calls a
day from residents asking if we can cover that particular item or would we look into something that they think is of importance to them or their neighbors. Call NBC about trash in a local park? Do you think for a second they are sending trucks with big satellite dishes on them down to check it out? Not likely, but look below this column and you’ll find a Letter to the Editor touching on that subject.
The Coastal Courier, like many businesses, pushed its way through the recent pandemic trying to survive in an economic downward spiral. We survived, but many community papers will not be that lucky. We have support here in our community for the Coastal Courier, but now, as publisher, as the leader of our news and entertainment products, I’m asking for more.
We need our community to step up and give us support through subscriptions, digital and print, advertising to promote and grow your business and even more important, read and consume our community news to educate your-self on local topics and events.
We currently have plans to add a second edition of the Coastal Courier this year which will be based solely on our schools and their sports. This edition will also cover college football, the SEC and national games of importance. We will also include information on the NFL and other national sporting news which is available to us.
We will need your support to accomplish this. Our intention is to bring our community newspaper to the level of prominence it deserves and the level of service and information this community deserves.
Over 70 Georgia communities lost their local paper in the last two years alone. Those communities and their residents can’t pick up the phone or send an email to the editor or publish asking, “What about this?”
Those communities have no check and balance system in place to know if their county or city officials are doing their jobs. Heaven forbid we have events like the last few months where violence has shaken our community and nation’s core. Without your community newspaper do you think things would have progressed as they have? Or, do you believe it would be easier to cover things up?
Newspapers, community newspapers, are the last line of defense for impartial and fair coverage on important issues and events which affect you every day.
We need your support!
If you see me, say “Hey!”
Dee McLelland is the Publisher of the Coastal Courier and the Bryan County News. He can be reached at dmclelland@ coastalcourier.com or 876-0156.