Long Live the News

A frequent trivia question is what do the letters, “NEWS”, the acronym, stand for?

The answer according to the trivia leader is “North, East, West, South”.Some say the answer is “National, Entertainment, Weather, Sports.” In reality, NEWS is the plural of new, according to OED, Oxford English dictionary, the definitive record of the English language featuring 600,000 words, 1,000 quotes and a 1,000 years of English. News is the newest of what is new.

Each day we are inundated with news, bad news, sad news, fake news, good news, becoming a blur of 24/7 news, quite an overload most days. Some days consuming the news is like playing the old game called, “Gossip.”. How do we know the truth?

Depending on your perspective, what do you think this saying means,, “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.” In other words, it is possible that we are being hood winked. Edgar Allan Poe wrote “Believe nothing you hear, and only one half of what you see.” What about what you read?

The Monticello News is a newspaper that brings local news to and about the citizens of Jasper County. Considering the size of our county and population, it is a miracle that we have The News. Without the support of local merchants’ advertising, our newspaper could not exist. Where would we go for local news?

Showcasing our youth in their accomplishments be it 4-H activities, school or sports, the newspaper is there. Local politics, the newspaper covers the meetings where decisions are made that will affect your daily lives. Along side the good news, personal news, is the bad news of people who do not respect us and threaten our way of life. All these stories you hold in your hands as you read this newspaper.

Today when news is received at lightning speed, news this minute will be old news by now. There is comfort in the NEWS of our town, knowing the names, the places, the events that make our lives so rich here in Monticello. Long live the written News.