National Newspaper Week may not be celebrated with parties and fireworks, and no one, least of all newspaper employees, gets any time off. But the week — which began on Sunday and ends on Saturday — points to the enduring importance of local newspapers in keeping communities informed and connected to the world, to the news and to each other.

Even as public trust in institutions, including the news media, continues to dip, local newspapers still have the confidence of a broad swath of Americans. According to a poll commissioned by the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association (PNA), 85% of respondents trust their local paper, in print and online. Even more, 87%, agree that newspapers keep people connected to their communities.

Those connections are more important than ever. It’s much harder for people to get pulled into political extremism when they are deeply connected to, and invested in, the life of their community.

Oct. 2-8 marks National Newspaper Week, a few days set aside to celebrate one of the most successful consumer products of all time — your local newspaper.

Yes, newspapers are considered legacy media and, frankly, we are proud that we are! The first way for Enid pioneers to get their news put together in an easy-to-read and easy-to-find package was through the newspaper.

Enid will celebrate its 130th birthday in 2023, and there has been a local newspaper right alongside the community the entire time. The first iteration of what is now the Enid News & Eagle also started 130 years ago.

We promote newspapers because newspapers — and our expanded digital operations — continue to provide the most accountable reporting and news gathering that is available to consumers.

This is two love letters in one – the first from me to newspapers, which have provided an outlet for my passions and a fulfilling career in return.

And the second is from our newspapers to you — the citizens who rely on our news and the subscribers who are committed to keeping this vital institution going.

The occasion is National Newspaper Week, a celebration of the relevance of newspapers, and the journalists who keep them relevant, from Oct. 2-8. In Michigan, that relevance extends back nearly 190 years in some of our eight newspaper communities.

I love social media. They keep me in touch with dozens of friends, whom I might otherwise have contact with just every few years, or every few decades. They let me share articles that I think bring greater understanding of a subject, usually with a comment of my own, and enjoy similar sharing by others. They let me share my own writing, reaching a wider audience than I did when I worked for newspapers, and be part of national, even international, conversations.

I hate social media. They have become the default sources of information for most Americans, and major sources of misinformation — even disinformation — that polarizes the country and drives us into media echo chambers. They have added to the confusion between fact and opinion, and to our natural desire for information that confirms what we believe, rather than information that may challenge those beliefs. They have led Americans to spend more time online in virtual communities instead of the geographic communities where we live, pay taxes and elect local leaders.

My love-hate relationship with social media stems mainly from the fact that I am a journalist who believes that freedom of information is essential to our democratic republic, and who has done most of my journalism for newspapers which are the main fact-finders in our society.