I read with great interest the letter to the reader by publisher Michael Rifanburg several weeks ago, and the column by Brooke Hauser, the new editor, yesterday — encouraging readers’ contributions.
My contribution today is to encourage all readers to subscribe to the Gazette.
Since the presidential election, it has been far too depressing to follow the news on TV and radio, even NPR. It is much more palatable to read the essentials in your paper and to learn what else I need to know in the Sunday New York Times and the Washington Post. What I get from the Gazette is what I can not earn anywhere else: award-winning coverage of local news: sports, schools, farms, music, community. And this community news is frequently inspiring— “local heroes” helping preserve local agriculture, and the natural environment, providing sanctuary for immigrants, innovating programs in the schools, etc.
As you mentioned in your letter to the reader, you welcome opinion from all sides of the political spectrum. How many places are there for members of our community to have their views expressed in print — as opposed to the food fights that online arguments about issues often become? And where else can readers with some expertise and passion about an issue are able to have op-ed pieces published? I agree that it is important to have readers with conservative politics have their views expressed as well.
By doing this, you help make the Pioneer Valley the vibrant, diverse, and welcoming place it is.
Finally, the free press in this country is under assault as it never has been before — being called “the enemy of the people” by this president (whose tariffs are directly hurting this newspaper through increased prices for Canadian newsprint!) What better way to resist, to show our support for the First Amendment and democracy then by supporting our local newspaper?
I urge everyone to think globally but act locally. Be kind, support local farms, businesses, and nonprofits, and subscribe to the Daily Hampshire Gazette.
David Gottsegen, MD
Belchertown