It is fitting that a one-year milestone is known as the paper anniversary. That’s precisely what we are celebrating this week at the Rogue Valley Times: the first anniversary of the launch of this newspaper and local digital newsroom in February 2023.

We’re marking this moment with a special edition of the Times, which is why tens of thousands of people received a print copy in the mail today.

If you are already a subscriber, thank you. We work for you, asking tough questions on your behalf, covering the stories that matter to you, sharing information and news you should know about in your community.

This work works because of you, and this work relies on subscribers like you — digital/print product subscribers or our digital-only subscribers who read our e-edition three times each week along with everything we publish online at the Times.

If you used to be a Times subscriber or have been on the fence about financially supporting local news, please consider giving us another look.

If you’ve subscribed to a local newspaper in the past and if you believe in the importance of robust local journalism, this edition is especially for you.

Throughout the pages of today’s print edition, you can learn more about the Times, read the work of our journalists, and discover how we are covering and chronicling our community.

If you want to join us on this journey, please subscribe today by visiting http://rv-times.com/subscribe or by calling us at 800-781-3214, or by going to this link:

As much as 2024 is a celebratory milestone since the launch of the Times, this year is also a cautionary and concerning milestone for the state of local journalism across Oregon and across the nation, and speaks to why we need your support as a subscriber.

At some point this year, fully one-third of the 9,000 community newspapers and local newsrooms that existed in 2004 will have ceased to exist. Of the 6,000 remaining, many are now only able to cover their communities at a fraction of former levels as the country has lost almost two-thirds of its newspaper journalists — over 43,000 journalism jobs — during that same time.

Community newsrooms are disappearing at the rate of nine per month nationally or about two per week.

When a local newsroom closes, what often rises in its wake is a news desert: A community with limited access to credible and comprehensive news and information that feeds democracy at the grassroots level.

Nationwide, there are 200 counties, home to 70 million people, with no local newspaper or local news source.

Similarly, we are not immune to news deserts spreading throughout Oregon.

More than a quarter of Oregon’s small-town newsrooms have closed in the past 20 years, and 68 percent of Oregon’s incorporated cities, at least 164 municipalities, lack a local news source.

It’s a past that happened locally last year when the Mail Tribune suddenly ceased operations after over 100 years serving the community.

It’s a present we are working on each day at the Times to avoid happening in our community again.

It’s a future fate fully in your hands, reliant on supporting this newsroom as a subscriber.

It’s been proven time and time again across this country that without community-based reporters on the ground — doing their jobs — infrastructure suffers, corruption ramps up, voting rates drop, and local businesses and residents find themselves unable to affect economic and social outcomes in their communities.

Journalism is a tool of empowerment, shedding light on critical questions, spurring action, empowering and amplifying marginalized voices, helping Oregonians and Americans understand and engage in their local communities.

But that empowerment is powered by those who support the work of local journalists.

Thank you for being part of our first year. Thank you for taking the time to read our special anniversary edition. And thank you for subscribing to the Rogue Valley Times.