You may hear people carrying on about how they get their news from the Internet for free and have no interest in tree-killing newsprint. But the reality is newspapers are not going anywhere.

The truly local papers are here to stay and always will be.

This week, National Newspaper Week, spurs us to look at trends over the years.

Prior to television’s rise you read your local, state, national and international news on the front page of the Oxford EAGLE. In fact, most days the local news was not on the front. Something big from the state or nation took front and center.

In the past 20 years something changed. People picked up their local paper for local news, because the bigger statewide, nationwide and worldwide information was on a television.

Now people go to the Internet for just about everything.

There may be a wide variety of news competition in Oxford, ranging from feature magazines to quick-hitting Internet outlets, but the EAGLE will always be the No. 1 longstanding daily news source for the folks of Lafayette and surrounding counties. It shouldn’t matter who owns the paper — the owners are providing jobs to boost the area’s economy. It shouldn’t matter how long the staff has been at the paper — the staff in place wants to better and serve its community. 

What we can tell you about the EAGLE is we are a newspaper that is changing with the times. We are making our print product more appealing to the eye. We are putting our content online for you to read and selling advertising to make some money and pay for talented staff while we do it. We are employing a news staff that breathes in the heart and soul of the community every day on its streets, whether it is on the Oxford Square or in the Etta community. Our news staff is committed to the long hours you face as a reporter and editor at a small daily newspaper, delivering local news to residents. Sometimes grammatical mistakes are made, but we shoot to get the message 100 percent correct. We also strive to be watchdogs, letting you know what your local government, businesses and residents are doing, both good and bad. We cover community events and let you know what is upcoming in a full page dedicated to our community’s calendar.

We at the EAGLE are terribly grateful for our readers, advertisers, staff and supporters of the print medium. We also have pride in our product — a tremendous pride at that — and want you to be proud of your local newspaper. And if you aren’t, we want to know how to make the EAGLE serve you.