Changing role of the newspaper

Newspapers have throughout their history adopted different levels of community involvement, from rampant muckraking to community booster.

For years in the early part of the century, newspaper publishers were often the spark that brought different factions of the community together to get things done. That's been more the role of smaller newspapers versus the large metro area. Hence many smaller newspapers come to be known as "community newspapers."

The Free Press is considered a "community newspaper," but hasn't really made clear to the community what causes are worthy of their attention. When we've taken up causes on editorial page, we haven't really tracked the progress of those community efforts.

It's something you're likely to see more of in the near future.

The Free Press is participating in a Blandin Foundation Community Leadership program for Minnesota editors and publishers. We've been studying eight tenets of "healthy communities" and aim to work up some kind of report card for Mankato and the surrounding region.

We'll share that report card with our readers and ask for their input on what we need to do better in this community.

The lines are open.