Town Pages editorial: Changes create opportunities for readers

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The world of community newspapers like the Rosemount Town?Pages seems to change nearly as quickly as the technology that is available.

Where once we were limited to bringing our readers news once a week in print, now the Internet allows us to distribute breaking news as quickly as anyone else. Usually quicker, simply because there is no other news organization that spends as much time as we do actually inside Rosemount city limits.

Where once we were limited to words and photos to tell stories, now we have tools like video. We have online photo galleries that allow us to bring you pictures that might otherwise never seen the light of day.

Facebook and Twitter allow us to interact with readers in ways we couldn’t before.

There is a lot to learn, and we don’t claim to be expert in everything, but we’re changing and we believe we’re changing for the better.

There are a few things that will never change, though. We will always be committed to bringing you the best collection of local news. And we will always be here as a resource for you.

Going online doesn’t make this newspaper any less a sounding board for our readers. In fact, it creates new opportunities. Now in addition to letters to the editor we can offer online comments to readers who are willing to take a few minutes to create an account. Some might object to the sign-up process, but we think it creates accountability that might otherwise be lacking in an arena where many prefer to remain anonymous.

We also have a blogging platform called Areavoices, a place for readers to say whatever is on their mind. We have the ability to feature those blogs on our website, creating an audience a lone blogger might not otherwise be able to draw.

We already feature blogs on gardening and on beer, on astronomy and the outdoors. But there’s always room for more. The possibilities are limited only by the imagination and experience of our readers.

If you’re interested in blogging, let us know and we can help you get started. If you already have a blog and are interested in being featured, we can help you with that, too.

The ways we go out our business might change as time goes on. The way people get their news from us might evolve. But whatever happens we’re still committed to being the best community newspaper we can be.

Some things never change.

Tags: opinion, rosemount, editorials