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Editorial: A platform for change

Writing about issues facing Sooke brings people out to help

Who says people don’t read the Sooke News Mirror?

In the last issue, Feb. 6, a front page story on the Sooke Food Bank did what it was supposed to do — elicited a response from the community. People opened their hearts and in turn their wallets and helped fill the bank account and the shelves of this volunteer run organization. Again, this shows the generosity of the residents of Sooke, and it also shows that people get their news from the printed issue of the local paper.

The editorials are meant to provide a platform around which conversation can start. Often, the comments are what people are talking about and the editorial puts those comments and ideas into the public forum. They are not meant to embarrass anyone or dictate how things should be done, but rather to open up the dialogue. In small towns there is always an undercurrent of opinion and the job of an editor is to bring them to the surface so they can be talked about. They are not “news” stories, they are opinions only.

Community newspapers provide the impetus, the readers and residents provide the change, if they want it.

With much of our effort these days of providing news online, it is rewarding to see that the printed page still carries weight. In print, it is possible to expand on ideas and stories and it is not a clip, sound bite or an abbreviated version of events. People in Sooke still read their news in printed form and we like that.