There’s a lot to be said for the importance of local newspapers.

Traditionally, newspapers set the agenda for public policy debate by informing citizens and public officials about important issues. Newspapers encourage regional economic commerce and, most importantly, they foster the community’s sense of place.

It’s a role that we savor. It’s a responsibility and mission that we shoulder, especially in these uncertain and chaotic times.

We know that you depend on our brand of news coverage. We know that you savor receiving the paper and that your own sense of local community resilience increases as you read through our pages and online content.

In each issue of the River Reporter and online, we tell you what’s going on. We curate information in sections that inform and educate about health, about government, the school, the environment, the outdoors and everything in between. We connect you with essential local goods and services. We provide you with a sense of local community character and stories.

We love what we do. We believe and support you and your lives in the local community.

As you can imagine, producing a weekly print journal and online media website is not easy. The amount of information coming into our inbox is phenomenal. And the work to process it is relentless and never ending. From each press release to every advertisement and notice we receive, numerous hands and minds are paying attention to the details. The amount of paperwork, planning and coordinating is sometimes unbelievable. Each item is tracked, logged, edited, attractively designed and thoughtfully reproduced. And we do it, day after day, week after week, year after year.

It’s a labor of love for those of us who spend our lives providing you with this service journalism.

And not unlike other sectors, the newspaper industry is in disruption. The internet and large tech companies have basically destroyed the traditional business model of news organizations and that threatens the historic mission of newspapers—informing and educating the public.

And yet, despite this disruption, and perhaps in response to it, the historic mission of newspapers is as vital as ever, especially as we suffer from information overload and the deliberate dissemination of misinformation.

This is the mantle we all shoulder. This is at the heart of our partnership. We could not, quite literally, do it without you. We thank our readers and the local businesses who support this essential role through their subscriptions, buying us on the newsstands and advertising within our pages and online.

The pressure to make ends meet increases every day, with the most recent onslaught coming in the shape of a nearly 10 percent increase in postal costs. We are told that more increases are coming and that delivery requirements could be reduced. Quite frankly, this translates into higher costs and delayed deliveries. (Every print subscriber has full access to riverreporter.com and to the articles and e-editions there so they can see the news as soon as it’s published.)

In response to these increases, we have raised the subscription rates to cover that 10 percent additional expense.

While dire, on a national landscape, there is some good news in the works: Congress is negotiating the Journalism Sustainability Act, which could provide media companies with tax credits for the employment of reporters and yearly tax credits for businesses who advertise in newspapers.

Even so, the survival of the local newspaper industry depends on readers like you. Readers who understand the power and the need for a free press and champion our mission to provide accurate and important news and information.

It’s essential to our democracy and the resilience of our communities.

So we thank you in advance for renewing your subscriptions, for talking with your neighbors about how fabulous the paper is and encouraging them to subscribe, using us to get your branding and marketing message out, and for continuing to send us your announcements and your news.

We have been the news source for the Upper Delaware River valley since 1975. And we aim to fill that role in the years ahead.

Thanks for being in this with us. You’re the best.

And speaking of the best, be sure to vote for your favorite community business, service person, and organization today! It all works together. It supports us all. Go vote at bit.ly/BestVote2021.