Raising questions part of the job
Although I'm starting to settle in at my job and in the town (I've been here almost six months now) I still feel I can add an outsider's point of view to the city of Marion.
At the same time I can lend an insider's view at the Marion County Record.
The newspaper I have worked at since I've been here truly is a hometown newspaper.
The staff genuinely cares about the people of the town, and what happens to them.
They want to report everything that is good, but still have to report news that is not favorable.
That also means questions must be raised.
In order for the paper to best serve the community, it must look out for the people who live in it. So, if the whole staff, or any member for that matter, feels something isn't right, they should have the opportunity to question it.
If a newspaper is all peaches-and-cream, it isn't a very good newspaper. What living community has never had a problem?
Even Pleasantville wasn't all that pleasant.
This paper serves the community of Marion. Of course during its 136-year run it has ruffled some feathers. If it didn't, it would be like reading Mary Poppins over and over again.
If the Marion County Record disappeared one day, where would you get your hometown news?
Where else would you read the lead sports story about your grandson hitting the game-winning shot at the game you couldn't attend?
Or see the pictures on the front page of local residents doing all they can to help neighbors with the cleanup of a devastating ice storm?
Want to sell that car your spouse told you to get rid of 10 years ago, or buy a new bed for that extra room? Better get on the horn and start calling around. Or you could go door-to-door.
Did you hear who the Marion High School students of the month were, or what columnist Norma Hannaford did last week?
Well, if you were related to them you may have.
The information the paper produces is not for its own good. It's for the good of every individual who is reading it right at this moment, and for others who are not.
Everyone at the Record, Hillsboro Star-Journal, and Peabody Gazette-Bulletin, all Hoch Publishing Co. newspapers, is working to better inform their respective communities.
The next time any of them raise an eyebrow at something, it might be worth a second look.
-Mike Norris
