Local newspaper critical to democracy
I commend the Daily Herald for encouraging and promoting voter participation. You encouraged readers to stay informed and vote. You promoted the elections by giving prominent coverage of the candidates and publishing their statements.
Your April 11 Soapbox stated, "But the job isn't over at the ballot box. We urge you to stay connected to what's happening in your communities."
On April 12 in your editorial, "Lessons to be learned from Tuesday's election," you further state: "The simple truth is the decisions about who will represent us on the issues where we live, work and play are now made by a relatively small number of those motivated enough to cast a ballot on Election Day."
You acknowledged only 20 percent of registered voters voted. And there are many eligible voters not registered.
The vast majority of citizens lack meaningful knowledge of the communities in which they live that would motivate them to vote in local elections. I personally find it difficult to know what actions and issues are being dealt with in my own municipality of Hanover Park.
The Daily Herald is the only print media that carries much local suburban news, but you do not cover town board meetings. I understand newspapers are struggling with loss of readers and less advertising, so it is not possible to have enough staff to cover such time-consuming reporting. And any account of such meetings by those involved in the democratic process may be used to selectively promote their agenda.
So the basic information that would enable citizens to feel a personal connection to their communities is not readily available.
Maybe it would be productive for the Daily Herald to solicit suggestions and study the alternatives for disseminating such important information. As James Madison once put it, "A popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy, or perhaps both."
If potential readers learned that the Daily Herald was carrying meaningful local news, it could increase subscriptions. And once those readers had knowledge of their communities, they would likely have more motivation to become active in the democratic process.
Willis Farnham
Hanover Park