What’s good for the community is good for the local newspaper.

It thrives when the community thrives, because as a commerical enterprise, the local newspaper depends on advertising revenue resulting from the symbiotic relationship between commerce. Newspaper advertising is a valuable commodity for local business because it is a time-tested and proven way for a business to generate sales. The more advertising revenue, the better a newspaper can serve the community with a better product, since like any small business, even if they’re owned by a corporate chain, much of the advertising revenue goes back into the business.

When a small business closes, that’s one less advertiser for the newspaper. When ad revenues drop, like they did during the last recession in 2009, when local businesses were closing every month, as a local business, the newspaper must reduce costs to stay in business.

Since the newspaper has a stake in the fortunes of the local economy and is also an economic driver, it is naturally an advocate for the community as a whole. But it’s at this line where newspapers separate from a typical business.

A free press has an obligation that supersedes the bottom line of a commercial enterprise: it has a duty to inform the people and monitor the people’s common interests, including government and any publicly funded entity.

While the daily news product often does not reflect positively at that time, it is a beneficial economic driver in the long run. When people know what problems confront the community, they can come together to create and implement collective solutions. When people know what elected officials are doing, either positively or negatively, they can either continue the course or provide a remedy at the ballot box.

The local newspaper is a commercial enterprise and a major player in a community’s economy, yet its primary role is noncommercial in ensuring government works for the people and keeping them adequately informed on what they need and want to know about their community.

A Daily Mining Gazette editorial