We aim to improve your local newspaper

This week, The Daily Register and The Daily Journal began operating under the new ownership of Paddock Publications.

Let us introduce ourselves but also describe our commitment to you.

We aim to be a force for good; to be intensely local; to chronicle your comings and goings; to be your voice; to be a marketplace for commerce; to be fair and accurate; to restore pride in the newspaper; to build pride in the community.

That's no small ambition. We won't achieve it alone. We believe good newspapers only get that way by working in partnership with their readers and their communities. We are going to ask you what you want in a newspaper, and we're going to listen to what you say. We are going to try to learn what you need to live a better life, and we're going to work hard to try to help you make that happen. In real ways, we're going to reflect your life and involve you in our coverage.

We're a family-owned newspaper company, a throwback to the days when energetic, independent papers thrived by being responsive to the needs of Main Street rather than Wall Street. We're a believer in the values of hard work and the old-fashioned texture of print, the kind of newspapers you can fold and pass around. Those values never go out of style, and they're the heart of who we are.

Paddock Publications is a 144-year-old company with its roots in rural Illinois.

Our founder, Hosea C. Paddock grew up on a downstate farm in the late 1800s and planned to become a teacher before being caught by the newspaper bug in places like Fulton, Morrison, Prophetstown and Sterling. He eventually bought a newspaper in what was then the rural outskirts of 19th century Chicago. The rural outskirts have become suburbs, and Paddock Publications' Daily Herald has successfully fended off powerful competition from big city news organizations and grown to become a modern and award-winning newspaper that has earned the top Community Service recognition of the national Inland Press Association eight times in the last 12 years.

We are here now because we believe in The Daily Register and The Daily Journal and what they can become, and we believe in Southern Illinois and its future. Let us know how we can serve you better. We'll be publishing surveys next week to solicit your advice.

Thank you for reading. I look forward to working with you.