By: Shayla Terry

The word news comes from the coordinates that govern direction — north, east, west and south. It is the gathering of information to deliver to the masses or simply one person. Every person on earth has the ability to generate and spread news. 

News has changed a lot over the last one thousand years. It moved from simply word of mouth to the ability to communicate to millions with the click of a button. In the news world, community news is small.

Yet what it lacks in size, it makes up for in impact. Our county, which is short on crime and high on love, has its very own brand of news. We all work together to create content for this paper week after week. The local reporter is a part of every step of your life, from your wedding engagements to your child’s high school graduation. Community journalists commit to taking every step with you. Journalists live in your community, shop at your stores and join groups and organization with the common goal of making the community better.

When issues arise in the community, you look to journalists to let you know the specifics — the who, what, where and why.

We stop whatever is occurring in our lives to service the community. News is now a 24-hour cycle. It doesn’t sleep like it once did in the 1960s when television went off. Journalist sleep, eat and breathe the happenings of their respective communities. Journalists vacation with phones, laptops and cameras in tow. Journalists have to have the ability to communicate with their residents at all times.

When the April 3 storm damaged Luverne, citizens needed answers. You wanted to know who was affected, and how the city was impacted.

We made sure that happened. We were alongside cleanup crews taking pictures. While lightning and thunder raged on, cameras were covered in plastics bags to get the shot.

This is the commitment we make to you. We are right here with you through it all, and you all expect that commitment.

The Luverne Journal has been apart of Crenshaw County for more than 100 years. We chose to be apart of your day-to-day life. But this choice requires commitment from you as well. There is no paper without you.

We can’t make connections or deliver coverage without your help. We want to the reputable news source that you want in your community. We want to be the first place you look for any news about Crenshaw County.

We want to cover every event — both triumphant and even tragic.

Community journalists have the opportunity to really let citizens into their heart, but the true connections comes when the citizens let journalists into their hearts.

There is a bond there that is missed by larger news corporations. Just like we see your children’s first tee-ball game, they see us and look to us in the community.

We don’t approach you to utilize your stories for a brief moment. We’re the ones who call you two weeks later to see how things are coming along. We’re the ones you see at the next event, and want to know what we can do to help.

So invest in us for every one of your coverage needs… the ones that matter to us, and the ones that matter to you.