I was sadder than I expected when there was no newspaper on my doorstep on a recent morning. A daily, or near daily, paper has always been part of my life; when I was a kid, we had two newspapers delivered every day. Morning and evening newspapers. Imagine.

Institutions are vanishing, and some won’t be missed, but democracy can’t survive without a free press, and our democracy is undeniably threatened by the destruction of our formerly great newspapers, the spread of disinformation in broadcast news and online and the deliberate poisoning of honest public discourse.

Recognizing the challenges it faces, I want to thank the Maine Trust for Local News for working to keep local journalism and our local news outlets alive. I thank them for making the hard choices. If these cuts help to save the press, then I hopefully support them. I also encourage all readers to please subscribe! A free press does cost money. (Today’s paper was in today’s mail.)

Finally, I thank Donna and James Keeler, who have so reliably and often courageously delivered the Kennebec Journal to me for more than 12 years and to hundreds of other subscribers daily for 34 years (!), through the dark of night and all the weather that Maine can throw down, and through a pandemic, too. They are amazing! l am grateful that they will still be delivering my paper on Sundays.

Sarah Reid
Augusta