Tracking major news stories helps students understand events in chronological sequence, and how national, state or international events affect their lives. Perhaps most important, the daily newspaper is an influential and integral part of our society. By building the habit of reading a newspaper, you help students become more conscientious and active citizens, ready to fill their role in a democracy. Local and some state news comes from staff reporters who work for the Journal Star. Local or state stories with national interest or implications, such as the 1993 flooding along the Mississippi River, are covered by both AP and Journal Star staff reporters.
Newspapers provide more in-depth information and a wider variety of information.
Newspapers allow readers to pick and choose what they want to read and when they want to read it, as well as to clip and save items of interest. Newspapers have a duty to mirror society as it is, so that readers can make wise choices based on the facts presented. Having a free press is essential to having a free country. Consider that one of the first steps taken by a dictator or an invading country is censoring the newspapers of the conquered people. The editorial page is a section of the newspaper that allows opinion to be expressed.