L’Observateur, your community newspaper, is alive and well.

We’ve been printing the news that matters to you for 99 years, and we plan to continue doing so right here in the River Parishes for many years to come.

Like all of you, we were surprised by the Times Picayune’s recent announcement that it would stop printing a daily newspaper this fall and shift its focus to the Internet. And like you, we were saddened by last week’s news of mass layoffs, when 32 percent of the paper’s employees, including half of its editorial staff, learned they’d been terminated.

We are competitors, sure. But we are friends, too. Journalists are a band of brothers and sisters with a sole purpose in mind, to keep the public informed.

We do not know what the future holds for the Times Picayune. We are asked that question daily, and we are also asked how that newspaper’s changes will affect us.

Our answer is simple. Our mission has always been and will remain the same — to be the best community newspaper we can be.

Times are changing. People get their news in different ways. We’re now a multi-media business with active newspaper websites. We’ve added email messaging, instant alerts and smartphone apps to our daily work lives.

We believe in the new digital world. We believe it is crucial to have an online presence. But we also strongly believe in the printed product.

As a community newspaper, it is our job to boost the local economy through advertising and news coverage. It is our job to bring you not only the bad news, but the good news as well. It is our job to help neighbors get to know each other a little better and to provide you with a forum for expression, a place for your voice to be heard. It is our job to serve as a watchdog and keep you informed of what your elected leaders are doing.

We share your values. We understand the community because we are a part of it. And we do not take our role in the community lightly.

L’Observateur is your community newspaper. It has been for nearly a century and we aren’t about to stop the presses now.

— Sandy Cunningham

Publisher