Local. Local. Local!
Newspapers may be changing, but one thing hasn’t changed: people still want to know what’s happening in their hometown.
That’s worth remembering during National Newspaper Week, when the Aurora News-Register joins thousands of newspapers across the country in celebrating the important role local journalism continues to play in the communities we serve.
The way people read their News-Register has changed. That’s obvious. Our print subscriptions have declined, reflecting a national trend, while electronic subscriptions and online readership have continued to grow. Taken together, our overall readership remains strong, and, in fact, has increased.
That’s an important distinction.
More people are choosing to get their ANR through our e-edition, website, Friday e-newsletter and social media channels. A younger generation, along with plenty of folks who have been reading us for decades, can now get breaking news, feature stories, photos and video highlights with the click of a button or tap of a phone.
Others still prefer the feel of the printed newspaper in their hands and the familiar routine of reading it in their favorite chair. We’re good with both.
What matters most to us isn’t necessarily how you get your News-Register, but that you have access to reliable, relevant information about the place we all call home.
As co-publisher, I obviously have a biased opinion about the value of a local newspaper. But a 2025 survey of 1,000 adults from communities across the country reached many of the same conclusions. Ninety-three percent said their local newspaper informs them, 81 percent said it provides valuable local shopping and advertising information, 83 percent said it is their household’s main source for local news, and 66 percent said they use their hometown newspaper when researching candidates for local office.
Those numbers reinforce something we see every week in Hamilton County: local news still matters. And there is plenty of it to cover.
Consider the conversations taking place right now about potential school bond issues in Aurora and Giltner, property valuations, tax asking and the decisions being made by our city, county and school boards. These aren’t stories happening somewhere else. They are decisions that can affect your family, your taxes, your schools and your community.
Someone needs to be in those meetings. Someone needs to ask the questions. Someone needs to report the answers. For many years, the only someone doing that consistently at the local level has been your hometown ANR. It remains our job, as is covering local sports and the many extracurricular school activities which put our youth in the spotlight.
In an era when national politics and social media can divide us into increasingly separate camps, the independently owned News-Register remains focused on something much closer to home — providing objective, community-based reporting from local sources about the people, organizations and decisions that matter here.
We’re still all about local, local, local. It’s a time-tested formula because, quite simply, people still care about what happens in their own backyard.
Happy National Newspaper Week.
— Kurt Johnson