The current administration in the White House has a phrase everyone is used to hearing these days: "Fake news."
There is some fake news circulating Poplar Bluff and the Daily American Republic's coverage area since Friday evening. The rumor mill has been working overtime the past few days.
Some changes will take place at the DAR starting the first of the year, and we shared those changes with our employees Friday afternoon. It has come to our attention the rumors say we are closing.
Let me assure you those rumors are false. We are not closing. This newspaper will be around for a long time. As I shared with the staff on Friday, we are just the current caretakers of the newspaper. It's our job to make sure it's in a good position so it's available for future generations.
I may be the new guy in town, but I learned quickly how valuable the DAR is to this community. So I take my responsibility as the current caretaker very seriously.
There will be some changes at the DAR as far as how the newspaper is produced and delivered starting with the Jan. 2 edition, though I will share more in detail about those changes in a column that day. Those changes won't affect you in a negative way.
I want to emphasize that you will receive your DAR in a timely fashion five days a week with lots of local news, sports, and advertising as in the past. That won't change no matter what has been churned out by the rumor mill.
What you have hopefully already noticed the past six weeks is our plan to make a good product better. We have added a local editorial page on Sundays, we've been working on producing more local stories, and we have some exciting news about our website www.darnews.com that I'll share in that Jan. 2 column.
As you can see, the idea of closing hasn't even entered our minds. Actually, it's just the opposite. We're positioning ourselves to be even better and stronger for MANY years to come.
Thank you for reading your Daily American Republic.
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Chris is the publisher for the Daily American Republic. He can be reached by email at cpruett@darnews.com .