Newspapers Your Way

This year marks the 83rd celebration of National Newspaper Week. From October 1-7, newspapers across the country are affirming their responsibilities to the communities they serve.

I've written a lot about our industry in this space over the last year, yet I find myself compelled to do it again.

So much has happened in the past several weeks. In August, we changed the distribution process for every newspaper we print, and that has affected when many of our readers receive their print edition, whether in the mail or on a newsstand.

When can I read the news on Saturday again? That's a question I've gotten many times as we have transitioned to having our newspapers go to the Fargo post office for processing rather than being brought to us by truck and taken to the local post offices.

It's the best compliment we can receive to have subscribers say they miss getting our paper on a certain day. Our team works hard to deliver a quality product consistently. Yet, it is also frustrating because we don't know when readers will get their paper in the mail.

So this year as we observe National Newspaper Week, we are working closely with the postal service to return to a more consistent delivery schedule for the newspaper.

"So what's the goal?" one subscriber asked last week. The goal, dear readers, is to have as many newspapers in your hands on or before Monday as possible each week.

The official publication day is Monday. That means our printing company must deliver the printed newspapers to the Fargo post office on Friday so they can be processed and transported to local post offices in time for Monday delivery.

That means sometimes your local post office might receive our newspapers on Saturday morning, as has happened a couple of times with the Independent. Our local post offices want you to get your mail, including the newspaper, as soon as possible. So if they receive newspapers on Saturday morning, they will put them in your mailbox right away on Saturday.

If the papers don't arrive until Tuesday or Wednesday, as has been the case with the Transcript recently, your mail carrier won't have a paper for you until then.

In print. Online. For You. #NewspapersYourWay.

I'm not active on Twitter, and I don't use hashtags much, but this year's theme for Newspaper Week speaks to me. Newspapers your way, that's what we aim to provide.

We know that 70 percent of our readers want a paper copy of the newspaper in their hands, on Saturday if possible. We also know that when the print copies are actually delivered is out of our control.

Therefore, we are focusing on what we can control, and that includes posting news online for immediate reading.

If you want to read the news on Saturday, consider an online account. Remember, all print subscribers have 24/7 access to all the content on our website, including extra puzzles and games, relevant news and information, and all the advertising and public notices, at no extra charge.

We post a digital replica of our Monday newspaper, which looks the same as it does in print (with bonus FULL color photos), on our website each Saturday morning. Go to our homepage, http://www.fosterconews.com or http://www.newrockfordtranscript.com, login and then click the "View PDF" icon on the right side of the page. A PDF copy of the full newspaper will download for you to read.

Click "FREE trial" to set up your online account. Once your account is active, we will send you an email on Saturday morning when the newspaper is posted online. We post every Saturday morning by 7:30 a.m.

In between print editions, we also post breaking news stories on our websites. We have the capability to publish one article at a time, when needed, and make it available to our readers on our website and through social media.

The most recent was the news of the plane crash in which local pilot Larry Polries was killed. We were the first to report the news online, and other news outlets reached out to us for information for their own reports.

If you prefer to get your news from social media, you can find us on Facebook. Search "New Rockford Transcript" or "Foster County Independent" to find our pages, where we post links to our breaking news stories and share content from other local pages all in one place.

It's been a rough year for North Dakota newspapers. The state has 12 fewer newspapers now than it did at this time last year. Small communities in rural areas have become 'news deserts' overnight.

While eight of those newspapers had a combined circulation of just 1,800, which is a couple hundred more subscribers than the Independent has alone, that still means news and happenings in those communities are likely going unreported.

Just as rural schools have consolidated over and over again to create stronger, more efficient education systems for our residents, that appears to be the case with newspapers of late.

Publishers in nearby communities have hired local staff of these shuttered newspapers and have dug their heels in to fill the gaps in news coverage. The surviving newspapers are growing their subscription base as a result, and it remains that there is at least one newspaper serving every county in North Dakota.

Yes, even though there are fewer of us, newspapers still cover every corner of the state like no other news medium can.

Here in Eddy and Foster counties, we remain committed to producing two unique newspapers, because we know that there's more than enough news and information to fill them.

On this National Newspaper Week, we thank YOU for reading!