“A free press is the guardian of democracy. In whatever form, it must be preserved.” —Charlotte Tillar Schexnayder (1923-2020), member of the Arkansas House of Representatives and publisher and editor of The Dumas (AR) Clarion.

As local daily newspapers have regionalized; drastically increased their newsstand price, advertising, obit, and classified rates; and scaled down the quantity and scope of local content (if you can even find any), while so much of what is shared on websites and social media posts continue to present opinion, rumor, and outright falsehood as “news,” during National Newspaper Week we are confident that Newtown residents can continue to find a wealth of professionally reported, expertly edited, carefully curated, hyperlocal journalism for $1 or less a week in their own hometown publication.

While you can find a reasonable amount of reporting online — still at no cost — The Newtown Bee is committed to its tradition of only posting about 40 percent of our overall content at newtownbee.com, because we still value our subscribers who still value getting every last word, image, letter, and ad reliably struck into newsprint. For many readers, subscribers, and our valued advertisers who continue to support us, there’s just something more permanent and reliable about information you can pick up and read about in a format that retains a decidedly higher level of integrity than what you might find on a screen.

And we are thankful for every one of you.

That is not to deny there is plenty of incredibly important news being reported by legitimate professionals and news organizations online that are either components of print newspapers, or that have sprung up to employ talented journalists who do amazing work exclusively online. The Bee proudly partners with several of them: The Connecticut Mirror, Connecticut Public, and Connecticut Inside Investigator locally, to name a few — as well as outlets like ProPublica and The 19th.

This year marks the 83rd celebration of National Newspaper Week, a weeklong promotion of the newspaper industry in the United States and Canada. The theme this year is “In Print. Online. For You.” and can be touted online using #NewspapersYourWay.

As your hometown paper has continued to evolve since its first edition in June 1877, The Bee continues to find both traditional and new ways to showcase, inform, entertain, amplify, and promote so many local people, places, happenings, and voices. We couldn’t do that without faithful readers, advertisers, and subscribers — and yet we could do even more if we had more of you.

While one analysis shows 2,514 weekly publications closed or merged with other papers between 2004 and 2022, The Bee has diligently mustered on, not only putting journalistic focus where it is needed most for our own community, we have been proud to be recognized by our peers and colleagues in the New England Newspaper and Press Association (NENPA) with multiple awards for everything from our editorials and photography, to our news, features, advertising design, special sections, and our eagerly-awaited Christmas cover illustrations created each holiday season by local artists. During that time, The Newtown Bee as you see below, also captured a coveted "Newspaper of the Year" title from our peers at NENPA.

So during National Newspaper Week especially, we humbly ask those reading these “Ink Drops” to consider becoming a subscriber, or renewing your current or expired subscription; or recommending one or more businesses you patronize to consider advertising with us; or maybe even purchasing one (or more) subscriptions as gifts for a friend, neighbor, or someone else you know in town — or who may have moved away — who may want to know more about what’s going on in Newtown every week.

That support will go far in cementing our sustainability as your own, exclusive, and valued local newspaper. If you haven’t thumbed through your good old Newtown Bee recently, give us a fresh look. We know you will find a lot more value than the buck you will spend to get your hands on it ... along with maybe just a little smudge of ink, to boot!