Open house is a time to meet the people who bring you the news

If you didn’t see our ad in last week’s issue of the Cheney Free Press, then consider this your personal invitation to a barbecue we’re throwing Saturday, Oct. 24. If you did see it, well, consider yourself personally invited too.

From 1 – 4 p.m. we’re going to throw open our doors, toss some hot dogs on the grill and let everyone come in and see what goes on behind the scenes at your local newspaper which has been reporting the news of the West Plains since April 1, 1896. If you don’t believe me, I’ll show you my copy of the incorporation papers to prove it.

Besides the food and drink — soda pop to keep it family-oriented — there will be drawings for a variety of prizes. And Free Press staff will be on hand to show you around and answer questions about what we do, and have been doing and what we’re planning on doing in the future because we aren’t planning on going anywhere.

Every so often an article or report appears announcing the death of newspapers, at least as we know them. That is not true.

What is happening is newspapers are realizing we must embrace the changing media landscape, recognizing there are numerous sources of information available. It’s no longer a one-stop-shop when it comes to gaining information — savvy individuals know where to go.

But newspapers have always, and will always, remain a major source of information. Sometimes during conversation I have asked people where they get their information about news and events, and the response is often, well I read this blog, or that blog.

That’s great, but where do you think those bloggers got their information? From a newspaper, or at the very least, some news media outlet.

In an Oct. 4, 2015 column commemorating their 125th anniversary, the editorial board of the Columbian, a daily in Vancouver, Wash., noted that despite the impacts of the electronic media there are still 21 daily newspapers in operation in New York City.

“All of those newspapers are part of a vast and growing and evolving media landscape, embracing the news-of-the-moment immediacy of Facebook and Twitter while still providing the kind of in-depth reporting that is rarely available on the Internet and never available on television,” the Columbian’s board writes.

Obviously we’re not a daily, which has its advantages in that we can spend more time on some topics. But with a website and Facebook page being used more frequently, we can when needed operate exactly as a daily, providing updated coverage on breaking news, as we recently did several weeks ago when a vault fire at Eastern Washington University knocked out all of Cheney’s communications for several days.

The Columbian tossed out several nice quotes in discussing the value of newspapers, one of which I’ve heard before and always brings a chuckle: “Saying I don’t need newspapers because I get my news from the Internet is like saying I don’t need farmers because I get my food from the supermarket.”

As I said above, we recognize people can get information from a variety of sources, and some of those sources we won’t be able to match, nor the information provided. In a few cases, we don’t want to because we wish to focus our energies in areas these sources fail to reach, and provide information that is more in-depth, rather than simply “the latest.”

That’s what this open house is about — an opportunity for you to come in, meet and talk with the people who cover and assemble the news in your community while at the same time having a friendly discussion about what we might be able to do more of, or better, in the way of keeping readers informed.

I’ll even buy you a hot dog.

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.