During National Newspaper Week, Anne Olafson and Astra Engrstom, owners and publishers of The Advance Gazette, the Foam Lake Review and the Ituna News, were excited to celebrate and thank their readers. Each paper included a feature article with various photos of staff, the national advertising creative, and a subscription promotion ad.
“Weekly newspapers provide a sense of connection to the towns and municipalities that we call home. Weekly newspapers provide information on sporting events, scholastic achievements and stories about our family, friends and neighbours. Weekly newspapers provide information on our local government, shops and services, community events and a place to offer a remembrance due to the loss of a loved one. Local news is different and so are our Publishers and team of writers and photo-journalists because for us, it is also our home.”
The National Newspaper Week article featured comments from the co-owners as well as local journalists.
“A Squared Printing Company co-owner and newspaper publisher, Astra Engstrom shares, “I have worked in this industry for over 20 years, but being an employer and a Publisher adds a whole new level of responsibility. We try very hard to keep our communities informed and cover as many events as we can.”
Ituna News journalist Shelley Harrick said, “I, personally, am so impressed with the owners of small newspapers like ours. They work hard to keep the papers open in a day when people get their news from online sources … people tend to think that because you live in a small town, anything that happens there is small potatoes or unimportant, but I have received letters and cards from many people who used to live in Ituna thanking us for keeping them up-to date on their former hometowns and neighbours.”
The Advance Gazette journalist Lorelei Johnson adds, “I think it’s important to keep a record of the happenings in the area. Our “small town news” would be otherwise lost. In 100 years there will still be a record of newspapers – anything solely digital or online could be deleted a number of ways and will not stand the test of time.”
Co-owner of A Squared Printing Company and publisher, Anne Olafson shares, “I love that we get to celebrate our communities. There are a lot of interesting people and activities that happen here and we get to highlight them. Each community is unique and we want to make sure that each newspaper reflects its community. The strong community support we have received from all of our coverage area is very humbling. I am grateful to be able to continue to provide a record of our people and communities.”
Click here to read the full article and view all the published photos.