A letter to our reader
Dear reader,
Thank you for picking up this paper, or clicking on this article. Did you notice that it’s free? Every day, Central Michigan Life is producing news stories, features, photos, podcasts and more. It’s available to you for free, because we want it to be accessible.
This is hard work, and we’re not adding this onto our busy college-student schedules for shits and giggles. We do it because journalism is an essential public service.
Whether this is your first or 50th time picking up one of our papers or reading an article on our website, it should be clear that we know our community. We care about it, too.
Our job as the paper of record for Central Michigan University and Mount Pleasant is to keep you informed — a job we take seriously.
With the recent re-election of Donald Trump to the Oval Office, it has become clear to journalists around the country that our jobs are going to become less safe and more difficult. Trump, through public statements that are consistently negative and frequently violent towards journalists, has eroded trust in this sacred institution.
Members of this 105-year-old news organization have received threatening emails, been ignored and severely underestimated. During this election cycle, our First Amendment rights were questioned, and it’s not the first time.
But we’re still here. And we are not afraid.
The role we’ve adopted is the mantle every honorable news organization has taken up for centuries. We are a voice for the voiceless; the final check and Fourth Estate alongside the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of government.
Our promise to you is this: We will tell you the truth; we will be transparent; and we will not yield in our public service to anything or anyone except our guiding principles of fairness, accuracy and accountability.
We are a resource to our readers. If you have a story to tell or an injustice to shine light on, let us know.
If you’re feeling afraid for your rights after this election, please know that there are still people who care for you and want to protect you. Many of them work in this newsroom.
Lauren Rice is Central Michigan Life’s Editor-in-Chief.
