To whom it may concern:
I am a senior in the high school program of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, but am native to the Shallotte area. I grew up reading your newspaper and was pictured quite a bit for academic and sports achievements in my younger years. I am contacting you in response to an AP Government and Politics assignment here at school. Presently we are studying social capital and have discovered that fewer and fewer Americans are reading the newspaper, creating a decline in social capital and networking. Our assignment is to think about how the local newspaper of our hometown builds the social capital of its community.
I truly believe that your newspaper connects the county and finds the commonality among our small diverse population in order to bring everyone together. You are able to connect our whole area through the education system’s news, high school and community college sports statistics, and the wide range of business ups and downs our county acquires. You are able to give information that interest students as well as information that our senior citizens will want to read. These things connect our community as a whole and help to increase our social capital.
I encourage you to continue to print the local news and help our community to engage in festivals, support our student athletes, and give recognition to those who constantly give back to the community. I think you are doing fantastic and hope you keep covering “the story;” our community needs the information. As a result of being such a small community, I feel that the Brunswick Beacon is the heart of our social capital and it just keeps beating. Keep up the good work!
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Stevie Burkes
I admire your appreciation for your local newspaper. I grew up in a family that received the Lexington Herald Leader every day. Yet, while I am at school, I never go online to read what is going on in my hometown. This lab was eye opening because it made me realize how much I miss being informed.
ReplyDeleteIn my hometown we never had a local paper, but we do receive the Washington Post. I know that none of my family members actually read the newspaper except for the occasional article, yet we continue to get a paper. If we actually read it, we would be more informed about our community and our social capital would greatly increase. I will encourage my family to start reading it again so that they not waste money and so that they are better connected to society and other citizens.
ReplyDeleteI love that you wrote a letter to your local newspaper. Did you actually send it? Because I was just wondering if they would publish it or anything. I don't know how often local newspapers get fan mail you know? Anyways, just thought I would ask!
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