Our mission: Conversation that matters
Anyone over the age of two can talk. But that doesn't mean anyone else has to listen. To merit the attention, the respect, the excitement, the engagement, the wonder and the delight of your friends and neighbors, you need something worth talking about. And you need to be able to speak with authority. To those ends, the Daily Herald resolves in 2011 to be your constant friend and your reliable source.
During the past year, our editors spent weeks re-examining our goals and aspirations, and we came away with a renewed dedication to an especially suburban-focused commitment.
Our vision? “To spark the suburban conversation,” we agreed. Our mission? “To engage our neighbors with trusted, creative and always tenacious suburban coverage that reflects their lives and protects their interests,” we wrote.
What does all this mean in real terms? Well, we crafted a series of words and phrases to try to approximate a definition, but a look back at 2010 can give you some idea of our plans for 2011.
In a diverse range of exclusive stories brought together under the heading of “On Guard,” we aimed to — in the words of our official mission statement — “expose corruption, shenanigans and wastefulness.”
But, we don't limit our conversation starters merely to institutional mismanagement. We also — again in the words of our mission statement — aim to “surprise” and “inspire” you.
As we did with coverage of Lee DeWyze's march to the “American Idol” winner's circle that included real-time tweets of his daylong hometown visit and concerts.
As we did with the story of onetime friends brought together by a near-death experience in Lake Michigan now embroiled in a bitter series of lawsuits stemming from the disaster.
As we did describing the heroism under fire that led the president to confer the Medal of Honor on a slain suburban soldier.
As we did with stirring coverage of the Blackhawks' road to the Stanley Cup, a profile of the Palatine native whose “Avatar” cinematography won him an Oscar and election stories portraying the suburbs' role in the sea change that transformed American politics in November.
To surprise, to delight, to inspire, to inform, to understand readers as neighbors, to dig deep and think critically, to be of our suburbs and for our suburbs. to be accurate, thorough and impartial. We pursued those goals this year; we hope to do better in 2011. To that end, we'll be improving our systems that let you get news directly onto our website. We'll continue to welcome your news tips, and we want to hear from you about all the stories and issues that matter most.
With our own listening as the foundation, we rededicate ourselves to a core mission: to give you things to talk about that your family, friends and neighbors will want to hear.