On a recent road trip to Texas, I had an eye-opening experience with artificial intelligence. It may have finally unlocked the meaning of the term for me.
Remember those spy movies from long ago? The characters were always hunting for “intelligence,” meaning accurate facts about troop movements or what their enemies were up to. They didn’t have to say “real intelligence.” If it needed a modifier, it might not have been the real thing.
That alone might be reason to be suspicious of artificial intelligence. If it is not real, is it reliable? Is it accurate?
Ask someone who it told in rapid succession to basically drive into the Red River. “Turn left in 200 feet, now turn right in 14 miles. Make a U-turn. Put on your life preserver.”
OK, I made up that last one. But I wouldn’t have been surprised, except that it would have been the only accurate part of that series of instructions.
Which brings us, unsurprisingly, to your hometown newspaper, the Leader. Today marks the beginning of our annual Support Local Journalism campaign.
I say “our” because for 23 years the Leader was my baby before I retired eight years ago. As its founding editor and publisher, even from an ever-growing distance of time, to me it will always be “our.”
Many readers feel the same, as they should about a hometown newspaper that does its job well. When the paper (rarely) doesn’t arrive on time in the mail, the phone call to Leader World Headquarters almost always begins with, “I didn’t get my Leader.”
Even though we grimace at a missed delivery, at least we get comfort knowing there is ownership on the part of the reader. My Leader.
Two years ago, I wrote the kickoff column to our first Support Local Journalism campaign and explained the tough road an independent hometown newspaper has to negotiate to stay in business. I’m not going to plow that ground again except to say that the challenges have only gotten harder. The internet continues to devour advertising revenue that used to go to newspapers. The future of any hometown newspaper is going to be decided – and funded – by readers.
The response to our first campaign from readers was tremendous and heart-warming. Hundreds signed up the first week to voluntarily support the paper financially. They value the hard work of reporting the news and sports – fairly, accurately and, most of all, locally.
That weekly miracle takes place in the shadow of the long game we play to remain viable as a business. I am so proud of the work being done by the Leader staff and management to step up and diversify what they do, adapting to the times and challenges.
We sponsor numerous community events such as senior expos that provide entertainment and information for our readers and revenue for our company. The Leader is on social media and has maintained a website for years that embraces the attitude of a daily (or hourly!) publication. Obituaries, for example, go up on the site as soon as we get them. Our job is to keep readers informed in as timely a manner as possible.
Sadly, many publications in dire financial straits felt forced to cut staff and rely on non-local canned news or worse, artificial intelligence to “write stories” about their communities, though hopefully not to run any of their readers into a river.
We’re not judging that decision, because it came in the aftermath of an impossible choice – do we publish a diminished (lousy) paper, or do we close up?
Reporters are the life source of any newspaper. Without them, there is no local news, which is the reason the Leader exists. Strangely, despite their dedication to the craft, reporters like to be paid. So do all the other 23 staff members.
The printer likes being paid and the post office demands payment before accepting the first bundle of Leaders to go out each week.
So here we are, in 2026, asking that you support your hometown newspaper with a voluntary subscription. Details on how to do that are at myleaderpaper.com/donate.
The truth is, absent the office lottery pool hitting a jackpot, we’ll be back next year with the same request. There still will be bills to pay and a paper to get out.
The Leader is not owned by a corporate chain and more importantly, not dictated to by one. The owners are and always have been on-site. Accountability is a phone call or a visit away.
There are now thousands of “news deserts” in the United States, towns and entire counties that have no local newspaper. More than 2,800 of the 7,325 of the country’s newspapers in operation in 2004 have closed.
It is a diminishment for any town to lose its voice, its source of reliable, accurate news, its history keeper and, yes, its watchdog and conscience.
Please help us make sure Jefferson County doesn’t become one of them.
Thank you.