Over this past century, the history of International Falls and Koochiching County has been written in the pages of The Daily Journal. Stories have been told of hardship and triumph, of people and places, of changing times and changing seasons.

Newspapers have been diligently reporting on events and fostering conversation for centuries while offering citizens a trusted source for information. It is this trust that we value most and we work very hard to earn it everyday by assembling facts, presenting all sides of a story and offering our opinion when warranted. As the media landscape continues to grow increasingly cluttered, it becomes even more important for citizens to have a source they can believe. In the digital world where topics are fleeting, information abundant and in-depth research scarce, a beacon of impartial journalism is essential. In this way, newspapers will continue to serve readers both on the printed page and on the Internet.

Much has been written about struggling newspapers recently, yet little has been written about small, family-owned, community newspapers. While some large companies have shed jobs and closed offices, many smaller papers have continued to offer community news while maintaining jobs and profits. Through hard work, a quality product and smart planning, The Daily Journal continues to fall in the group of successful newspapers. However, succeeding in the short term is not enough. We need to plan for our next century of service.

In order to accomplish our goal of providing local news and advertising into the future it is important for The Daily Journal to evolve along with the needs of our readers and the world around us. It is with this in mind that we have taken a hard look at our product and have decided to make a change. In February, The Daily Journal will begin publishing twice a week, Wednesday and Friday. Renamed The Journal, our readers will find a refocused newspaper with local news as the driving force.

The Journal has always focused on local news. With so many options for readers to find national news, it is clear that we need to redouble our efforts to provide the most in-depth coverage of Koochiching County possible. To accomplish this, we need to have the best journalists. To that end, our entire newsroom will continue to write for The Journal. Reducing the number of editions will allow our news team time for even more interviews, investigations, and features. Often information received at meetings and events requires a great deal of follow-up or research in order to uncover the whole story. Our new schedule will allow for more follow-up and will provide readers with not only more local news, but more in-depth local news.

In addition to offering more local coverage, The Journal will offer advertisers more reach. The full circulation newspapers delivered on Wednesday and Friday to subscribers will be supplemented by the addition of a new Journal Shopper delivered on Friday to non-subscribers. It will boost our total reach to more than 8,000 homes from Birchdale to Littlefork and Ray to the Falls. This is an increase from the 5,200 homes currently receiving our Monday edition. The new Journal Shopper will meet our goal to offer the most comprehensive marketing solution for reaching Koochiching County.

Subscribers will receive even more local news and save money. New subscription rates will drop from $111 per year to $79. For subscribers who have already paid for their paper, we will extend subscriptions to equal this new price. Newsstand rates will be increased to $1 to reflect the additional pages of content.

Beginning in February, subscribers will receive a newspaper on Wednesday and Friday delivered to all through the mail. These will be full newspapers with all the articles and advertising you have come to expect and more. Non-subscribers will receive a copy of The Journal Shopper on Friday delivered by the mail. This shopper will contain advertising, classifieds, inserts, and legal notices but no local news.

Daily updates will still be available on our Web site at www.ifallsjournal.com. Breaking news stories, sports scores, and much more will be available for free. Over the next few months our Web site will be transitioning to a subscription Web site. This will offer complete news along with many extras to online and print subscribers. Look for more information on our Web site in the coming months.

As we enter this new chapter of The Journal in February, I know readers will find more of the local news, local stories, and local people that they crave. It continues to be our goal to provide a newspaper readers cannot live without and we will strive to provide an even better product on paper and online.