It is a special week this week. There is something special that is being celebrated this week.

Oh, there is Fire Prevention Week and National 4-H Week, among other things, but there is also something else that is near and dear to my heart.

It is National Newspaper Week. And yes, that is a real thing. A week to celebrate newspapers.

It has been something for quite a while, in fact, this is the 86th year that National Newspaper Week is being celebrated during the first full week of October.

I personally have only been celebrating it for the past 54 years or so, ever since I discovered small town weekly newspapers and then decided to not only work at one, but buy one.

Oh, I had always known about newspapers, and I was an avid reader of them since my early youth. But, I only knew about large daily newspapers, like the San Diego Union, the Denver Post and the Minneapolis Star, Minneapolis Tribune and the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

It was not until 1971 and I was a summer intern at the Lake Region Life (formerly the Waterville Advance) in Waterville, Minnesota, that I discovered that small towns had newspapers, too.

I had already tried to switch my college major from teaching high school English to journalism and mass communications. In the end I still ended up with the English teaching degree.

I had thought about becoming a reporter at a big city newspaper, like the Mankato Free Press, but I quickly became totally enthralled with small town newspapers and they became my life’s work.

It was a place where I could write news stories, sports stories, feature stories, personal columns and take hundreds of photos – every week.

And get to do layout and design, sell ads and more.

What could be better?

All newspapers, but especially small town newspapers, tell the stories about what is going on in the town – or that they cover.

From obituaries to sports to news and more, small town newspapers cover it. Big city papers don’t bother. Neither do television stations and many radio stations. Not like a local newspaper does.

These days people seem to get what passes for news from Facebook or X or TikTok or Instagram or other social media.

But nobody covers that small town they are living in better than their local small town newspaper.

Some of those papers are going away. And that is a real shame. Somebody posting something on Facebook is a poor replacement for thorough, honest, in depth news stories.

In fact, “Rooted in Community – Committed to Truth” is the slogan for this 2026 National Newspaper Week.

I am going to turn this week’s ‘From the Editor’s Notebook’ column over to Lynne Lance, executive director of the National Newspaper Association, to finish it up with her thoughts.

In small towns, suburbs and cities across America, local newspapers are there for the moments that matter — elections and ballgames, new businesses and school decisions, celebrations and tragedies.

How we deliver the news has changed. Why we do it hasn’t.

Newspapers inform their communities, hold government accountable and tell the stories no one else will. That commitment is at the heart of National Newspaper Week 2026 and this year’s theme: “Rooted in Community, Committed to Truth.”

Local journalism is just that — local.

It’s the city council vote that affects your taxes, the school board decision involving your children, the state championship team and the new business opening on Main Street.

Newspapers put reporters in the room, ask questions and provide accurate, verified information when facts matter most.

They also connect communities. Newspapers celebrate accomplishments, honor veterans, publish obituaries, cover emergencies and record the everyday moments that become a community’s history.

Strong local journalism doesn’t happen by accident. Subscriptions, advertising and community support help keep reporters covering the people, institutions and decisions that matter.

National Newspaper Week is also a time to recognize the journalists, publishers, photographers, advertising teams, press operators, carriers and others who make that work possible every day.