CAPTION: Michael Glenn, left, Adam Strunk, Lindsey Young and Joey Young. CREDIT TOMMY HORNBECK
By Michael Glenn
This past evening, I attended Harvey County Now’s “Blues, Brews & Barbecue” 2024 event in Newton.
What a night!
Harvey County Now is a locally-owned newspaper based out of Newton and is one of the state’s best examples of what local journalism can look like when the owners actually care about their product.
What I saw at the event was the community coming together for a night of fun with beer, music and food.
When newspapers and journalists come together with the community they report on, it creates a unique bond and enshrines trust in the publication.
It’s really easy to write the media off as untrustworthy or intentionally malicious, but it’s harder to do that when you share a drink with a reporter or sing along to music with them.
Every journalist, editor and publisher is also a fellow human being.
We require the same things as any other person: sleep (sometimes,) food, water and fun, not necessarily in that order.
We care about our communities and want the people in them to be able to succeed and grow as a whole.
We care about our conversations with everyone we run into, whether it be government officials, cultural leaders, organizations or regular community members trying to live their life.
All of these ideals of journalism I have learned from Joey, Lindsey and Adam in Newton. They’ve supported our effort here in Hutch and I sincerely appreciate their support of our publication.
So now, it’s your turn, the reader, to help support local journalism. If you have any interest in Harvey County, subscribe to their paper. Subscribing to a local newspaper is truly one of the best investments you can make in a community. And if you’re in Hutch or Reno County, I ask you to consider supporting the Tribune and our effort to provide local journalism to Hutchinson and the county.
