As I was walking into the Portsmouth Municipal Building Friday morning, I watched a woman put her money in the paper vendor and take out her copy of that day’s Portsmouth Daily Times.

I want to say to her, “Thank you for buying a newspaper.”

As anyone who follows the news knows, newspapers are failing all across the country, and we could sit and debate why all day, and probably accomplish absolutely nothing. But it is interesting to note that through all the changes that have taken place since the invention of the printing press, we are still counting on each individual person to buy an individual copy of the newspaper.

The local newspaper, like the Times, is, in reality, the last bastion of real local information you can really use.

Over the last several months we, at the Times, have prided ourselves in creating more local news than ever before.

Will we make mistakes? Probably. There will be times when we accidentally run the wrong crossword puzzle, or leave out the score from a local football game.

Many, many times I have opened by hamburger to find they forgot the onion, or left off the mustard.

Never once did I say, “I’m never buying a hamburger from you again.” Yet we hear it all the time. “You had the wrong crossword puzzle in today’s paper, I’m canceling my subscription.”

By in large we get it right most of the time. We are accurate and dependable. We talk with the newsmakers, and share their views with you openly.

One news outlet told the public the other day that everything was great between the sheriff and the commissioners on the new contract for jail bed rental. We carried the truth. The sheriff was trying to figure out how you can house 30 more inmates in a facility already over capacity.

The fact is, many morning news broadcasts are simply an individual reading from the front page of the Portsmouth Daily Times. We don’t mind at all. But we also want to remind people that we work hard to get the truth and get it to you as quickly and accurately as possible. We are proud of what we do, and hope you share our interest in getting information to you, the reader. You can show that by buying a copy of the Times at your convenient store, or supermarket. Or, even better, subscribe to the Times.

The next time you are paying for that cup of coffee, or that tank of gas, look at that rack nearby, and remember what is in there is there because of one of our great freedoms — the freedom of the press. Please take home a copy, so that we can continue to bring truth and information, uncontrolled by any outside force, to you.

In 1787 Thomas Jefferson put things in a perspective that remains true today — “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have government without newspapers, or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”

FRANK LEWIS may be reached at (740) 353-3101 Ext. 232