Sal Peralta and Tanya Tomkins: Newspaper plays key role in connecting our communities

Sal Peralta and Tanya Tompkins have been living, working and raising a family in McMinnville for more than 20 years. Sal serves as an elected member of the McMinnville City Council and Tanya as a professor of clinical psychology at Linfield University. Both have long records of public service in state and community organizations.

A big part of what makes McMinnville such a wonderful place to live is the remarkable degree to which people here — and, indeed, in its neighboring Yamhill Valley communities — are connected in community to one another.

Like no other place we have lived, McMinnville, Amity, Carlton, Dayton, Lafayette and the surrounding rural areas boast an active and engaged citizenry committed to building and sustaining a high quality of life.

Since 1866, the News-Register and its predecessors have played a pivotal role in fostering this sense of community. No institution has been more central in connecting people to one another than this newspaper.

Through the efforts of a small but dedicated team of professional reporters and editors, we stay informed about major events that unite us or affect us as members of shared communities.

It enables us to track the story lines of the numerous connections we have to each other, the communities we belong to, and the lifestyles we lead. All of it is chronicled, detailed and shared through the dedicated daily effort of a handful of people.

This kind of reporting acts as a glue, an essential component that enhances the overall quality of life in this community. As highlighted in a report by the Federal Reserve, local newspapers are the best medium to provide the sort of public service journalism that shines a light on the major issues confronting communities like ours, and gives residents the information needed to solve local problems.

The loss of newspapers in a community is deeply felt because public service journalism is considered “a public good” by economists insofar as it helps us, as members of the public, make informed decisions about our lives and the kind of community we want to live in.

These elements have been critical in binding American society together for more than 150 years. It is no accident that as the country expanded West, newspapers were established right on the heels of territorial governments, new local governments, expanding commerce and the rule of law.

Unfortunately, over the last 20 to 30 years, the retail landscape has shifted, with national and internet-based chains like Amazon dominating, in the process pushing local retailers into increasingly smaller and less profitable economic niches. This has resulted in dwindling advertising revenue, to the point where it is no longer sufficient to support the kind of public service journalism papers like the News-Register provide.

This challenge is not unique to McMinnville. Since 2004, more than 2,000 newspapers, more than a quarter of all community newspapers in the United States, have ceased operations. The vast majority have disappeared in rural and exurban communities.

The impact of this decline has been devastating, especially in smaller communities. Peer-reviewed studies have linked the loss of community newspapers to declining civic engagement, increasing governmental waste and heightened political polarization.

McMinnville has largely avoided these issues, with citizens generally supporting responsible investment by local governments, and adopting a moderate and civil approach to policy and problem-solving, despite growing polarization about the globe.

The fate of the News-Register is now in our hands, and with it the long-term health of our community.

As a public good, the economic and non-economic value of the newspaper to the community far exceeds the revenue available for community public interest journalism. In order for the paper to survive, the community must join in helping support its public interest mission.

That means that instead of simply taking out a subscription or buying an ad, individuals and businesses need to consider additional steps — steps critical to the support of community journalism in McMinnville.

In the long run, preserving this institution, allowing it to continue to serve as a critical link in binding us together in community, will protect local taxpayers and users of government services.

We invite others to join us in purchasing a premium subscription. If you have a business, we invite you to consider more regular and robust advertising. And we invite anyone in a position to do so to also consider making contributions to the non-profit foundation formed to support community journalism in McMinnville through the News-Register and its professional staff.

A little bit of money from a lot of new sources can go a long way toward protecting the local community journalism this paper provides.

Sal Peralta and Tanya Tompkins have been living, working and raising a family in McMinnville for more than 20 years. Sal serves as an elected member of the McMinnville City Council and Tanya as a professor of clinical psychology at Linfield University. Both have long records of public service in state and community organizations.