Working as a city reporter in my early years and as a freelance correspondent for the last four years for the paper “that shall not be named,” I often heard the familiar refrain, “There’s never any local news in the paper.”

That dreaded phrase did one of two things. It either made me break out into a cold sweat or made my blood run cold. Either way, it wasn’t good and I often wondered what was meant by that. After all, I was constantly writing local news, or news that the current corporate owner labeled local news. But was it?

In the early years, under the leadership of Editor Mike Berry, I had a wide latitude in what I covered. Back then, a press release from a local organization such as the Kewanee Public Hospital was considered news as long as I called and asked a few more questions, rewrote the press release to make it more newsy and added a few new comments and details.

Back then, covering a community concert or a school event or taking a photo of preschool children dressed in their Halloween costumes (I once did that when we needed art for the front page) was considered news. We now refer to that as “the good old days.”

But something happened along the way and things that once were considered news were suddenly considered “beneath the dignity” of the corporate owner to publish. Community concerts at churches weren’t news, we were told. Covering boards such as the park board wasn’t news, although former Editor Mike Helenthal refused to budge on that and board coverage, as much as possible with a shoestring staff, was continued.

Over the last several years, the corporation that owned our local newspaper decided that what needed to be done was to use the smaller papers to feed the larger ones and the concept of “regional coverage” was born. Did people living in Peoria want to read about Kewanee school events or how the high school softball team fared in Saturday’s game? Of course, they didn’t and so you didn’t get to read about it either, and that was a shame.

But all of that has changed. It’s out the window. We are returning local news back to its rightful owners- you. We are going old-school, you could say. Local news is now what we all decide it is, and The Kewanee Voice welcomes your tips, news story ideas and letters to the editor. (Please see our submission guidelines).

We believe that because of our experience doing this for so long, we have our finger on the pulse of the community. We understand, for the most part, what our community wants to read about, what it needs to learn about and what issues will impact resident’s daily lives. That doesn’t mean we won’t rely on our readers to keep us on track.

Because we are an independent news source, we will occasionally write a story about an issue some people may not want to hear about or may not agree with, but think of it as eating vegetables. You may rather have pizza and tacos everyday, but eating vegetables every once in a while is good for you.

As our mission statement goes, we strive to be the voice of the community. It’s our promise to you to serve Kewanee and the surrounding area with news that informs and enriches. What started as a Facebook page and a way for Mike Berry and me to deliver local news to our community has resulted in a website that will hopefully be around for a long time. We couldn’t have done this without the help and support of all of you. We hope you will continue to support us through the years to come as we deliver the local news that you deserve. We all have a say in it now, and that’s the way it should have been all along.

Your town, Your News, Your Voice.

Susan DeVilder
Managing Editor