Don’t trust any of this
Don Harrold, Executive Editor
editor@enterprisepub.com
Twice this week, I was told someone read the Harrison County Times-Reporter for the obituaries, then threw the paper away. Others told me they unsubscribed after their kids graduated from high school because there was "nothing" in the paper. I've been told it's a "rag" and worse. More than one person didn't even know the paper was called the Harrison County Times-Reporter.
Most of all, I heard that the paper is all Missouri Valley—or some version of the complaint that other towns don't get the coverage they deserve. If you're a longtime reader, you probably have your own description.
My name is Don Harrold, and I'm the new executive editor of the Harrison County Times-Reporter. My job is to make this newspaper better, and I'll start with the complaint I heard most: there will be more stories from all the towns in the County, not just Missouri Valley.
There are good people already working here. Echo, Matt and Carrie know this community, care about it and want this newspaper to be something you want to read. Without them—and without people throughout Harrison County willing to talk to us, send us story ideas, answer our questions and tell us when we get something wrong—a better newspaper isn't possible.
My role is to drive that work. I know how to build a paper worth picking up, but none of it matters without good people doing the work ahead of and around me.
This newspaper is closer than you might think to being better than you might hope. The people are here. The communities are here. The stories are here. Our job is to put those pieces together every week and put a newspaper in your hands worth reading.
Hold all of us to what I've written here. Email me at editor@enterprisepub.com with comments, questions, story ideas, criticism and praise. We want it all.
Most of all, don't believe me. Don't trust any of this. Don't accept what I've written as anything more than another promise. And remember, a promise can be a lie.
Four weeks from now, read this again. Count the datelines. If we've done our job, I won't have to tell you the Harrison County Times-Reporter is better.
You'll know.
Thanks for reading,
