David Hoffmann: Local news can bring communities together

Prefer us on Google Hello, I'm David Hoffmann. Like many of you, I've been thinking a lot about our country, our communities and how we find our way back to one another. There is too much friction, too much anger and, often, too little understanding of the people and places closest to us. I serve as chairman of the board of Lee Enterprises, the company that owns this publication. More importantly, though, I'm a husband, father and grandfather who cares deeply about the kind of communities we are leaving to the next generation. None of us can fix it alone. But together, I truly believe we can do more to strengthen the places we call home. And local news has an important role to play. A few years ago, I found myself looking for the kinds of stories many families look for: Coverage of young people excelling at community sports, updates on local businesses and news about neighbors doing meaningful work for people around them. But what I found was sobering: In too many places, local news had been weakened, and in some communities, it had disappeared altogether. That experience deepened my respect for local journalism and for the people who do this work every day. It also made me want to help ensure that communities continue to have trusted places to turn for local information. I know we will not always agree about our communities, our states, our nation and our world. But I also believe most of us share more common ground than we realize. When local news helps us see that common ground, and helps us see the good that people are doing around us, it can make our communities stronger. Across Lee and the local news organizations my family and I are connected to, I have come to appreciate the remarkable range of communities served by local journalism, from large cities such as St. Louis and Buffalo, to midsized communities in Indiana and Iowa, to smaller places such as Hickory, North Carolina, and Butte, Montana.