Published: November 24, 2009 09:28 am      

Newspapers still deliver for you

What do Gov. Mitch Daniels, Sens. Evan Bayh and Richard Lugar, Colts owner Jim Irsay, screenwriter Angelo Pizzo (“Hoosiers” and “Rudy”); Indiana University President Michael McRobbie; Purdue President France Cordova; Butler President Bobby Fong; TV personality and newspaper columnist Dick Wolfsie; “Garfield” creator Jim Davis; and a number of other well-known Hoosiers have in common?

They believe that newspapers still deliver, and they’ve all appeared in advertisements promoting the theme of an eight-week campaign just winding up on behalf of Indiana newspapers.

Why the campaign? Because it’s no secret that newspapers have taken some hits lately that have seen some big-city papers close or file bankruptcy, cut back delivery and trim staffs. While certainly the terrible economic times have caused some of this, the advent of the Internet is also to blame.

But while these difficulties are real, the Pharos-Tribune and 175 other daily and weekly newspapers in Indiana would like to reassure you we are here to stay — providing the news, information, advertising and entertainment you’ve come to depend on.

Haven’t thought about life without newspapers? Well, hopefully you never will.

That’s because most newspapers in Indiana, while suffering through the same economic tough times that nearly all businesses are experiencing, are still hard at it.  

We are covering city council meetings, attending school board meetings, reporting from the police and sheriff’s departments, covering high school sports, printing honor rolls, printing county fair results, publishing obituaries, birth and engagement announcements and lots more.

Think what our community would be like without a newspaper — we could all just blog ourselves to death — but about what? Newspapers, it’s been said, write the first draft of history. Bloggers, Googlers, Bingers and all the other news “aggregators” feed off that.

So, despite all the changes in how we receive news and information these days, we still need newspapers.

And, newspapers still deliver.

Thanks for reading the Pharos-Tribune.

Thanks for patronizing businesses choosing the Pharos-Tribune to run their advertising.

Thanks for caring that an important part of our democracy — that part guaranteed by The First Amendment — remains a part of the future.

Yes, newspapers still deliver — for you.