Importance of newspapers celebrated

Sunday marked the start of the 80th annual observance of National Newspaper Week.

The celebration, observed by newspapers of all sizes across North America, including those in Canada, recognizes the importance of journalists and the contributions they make to keeping people informed about what is happening in the world around them.

This year’s theme is “America/Canada Needs Journalists.”

While social media, a modern-day version of the telephone party line, does much to help people learn what is going on in their neighborhoods and with their friends, newspapers, especially community papers such as the Boulder City Review, strive to provide accurate and unbiased accounts of events in town and the happenings inside City Hall.

We are among the thousands of journalists across the country who attend meetings, interview public officials and local citizens, and scour through hundreds of pages of legal documents to report on what we see, hear and learn.

We also aim to share stories about those who make the community a place where people want to live and spend time.

We do this despite a near-constant assault on the profession and accusations of writing “fake news.” It’s frustrating and often disheartening, yet we remain committed to telling the stories that need to be told.

Good journalists, and we count ourselves among them, abide by a host of written and unwritten ethical standards, including attributing statements to sources; making a clear delineation between news and opinion; and even declining gifts that could be seen as providing undue influence over our writing.

Despite our best efforts to be perfect, we are human and sometimes make mistakes. But, when we do, we are quick to correct them.

Since March and the rise of COVID-19, the role of the newspaper has become increasingly more important to keep residents apprised of recommendations to fight the virus, changes regarding business closings and openings, testing opportunities, restrictions on gathering sizes and more.

It’s also been more challenging because of the fluid nature of the pandemic and the fact that so many people are working from home — or not working — and are not venturing out. But we were not deterred from our mission of keeping readers informed.

We hope that as we continue to report on Boulder City that you, our readers, recognize the value of a community newspaper, and we look forward to the day when we can once again open our office doors and welcome visitors to hear their thoughts and share their stories.

Hali Bernstein Saylor is editor of the Boulder City Review. She can be reached at hsaylor@bouldercityreview.com or at 702-586-9523.