It is one of the biggest weeks of the year in the newspaper industry as we join voices with others across the nation to celebrate the important role newspapers have during National Newspaper Week.

Newspapers have never been more vital in the history of our nation than they are now in an age of social media and false information spreading like wildfire on the internet. Getting the facts right has never been more important.

This week and into the future, we ask you to continue to place your trust in this newspaper as you have in years past. It is one of our top priorities to educate and inform you, our readers, about happenings in the community. Whether it’s through the print copy, your computer or your mobile device, we hope to provide you with content that matters to you.

Beyond articles about community events and issues, this newspaper also provides vital records such as obituaries and birth announcements, along with wedding and engagement announcements. The newspaper serves as a community watchdog and provides public notices.

Our goals go hand-in-hand with this year’s theme for National Newspaper Week, which seeks to raise awareness of the five freedoms found in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution: freedom of the press, speech, religion, petition and assembly.

We deem these five freedoms so critical that each day we print the First Amendment on the Opinion page in this newspaper: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

We believe the freedom of the press, the right to circulate news or opinions without interference from the government, is essential in protecting these and many other liberties we enjoy in the United States.

As Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “Freedom of conscience, of education, of speech, of assembly are among the very fundamentals of democracy and all of them would be nullified should freedom of the press ever be successfully challenged.”

Freedom of the press was important to the Founding Fathers of this country, who had seen censorship from the British government before the 13 colonies declared independence —  so much so that they declared freedom of the press as “one of the greatest bulwarks of liberty.”

This week and into the future, we ask readers to continue to support the cause of freedom of the press and support local journalists. Help partner with us to support the ongoing dissemination of news to the community.