What if you received your White County News this week and all the pages were blank?

Sure, you would miss reading Shirley McDonald’s history column. There would be no Ask Lula Belle. Nor could you find out who was born, who got married or who died.

You certainly would miss these and other popular items in your weekly community news-paper. But something else would be missing. The news.

When we meet a neighbor or someone at work, we usually ask: “What’s the latest?”

People have a basic need to know what’s happening beyond their own little world.

This summer, I stopped by the University of Georgia bookstore in Athens. On a whim, I decided to go upstairs to the textbook section, far removed from all the UGA sweatshirts, windbreakers and a million other logo items that fill most of the first floor.

The second floor is for the serious stuff. Instinctively, I went to the journalism shelves, and a little, used stack of paperback books caught my eye. It was The Elements of Journal-ism by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel. The book was written in 2001, but updated and re-vised in 2007.

The book’s subhead: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect. Ah, dear reader, you share a part in this, too.

I bought the book, and it has become important to me. It explains the relationship be-tween journalism and democracy, and right from the start contends that journalism has one primary purpose: “To provide citizens with the information they need to be free and self-governing.”

The authors, after years of research, have determined that in this age of the Internet, blogging and 24-hour cable TV, the elements of journalism are more important than ever.

They write: “Ironically, finding the truth in some ways takes more work than it did (in the past) precisely because there is so much information available. Call it the paradox of learn-ing in the Information Age. When information is a commodity in oversupply — when there is so much more input — knowledge becomes more difficult to acquire, not easier.”

The book, about 250 pages, outlines in each chapter the 10 elements of journalism.

I can assure you that at the White County News, we strive to provide you — the citizens of White County — with the pertinent information you need each week to know what’s going on in your own community. But when we fall short, you need to let us know. And, of course, we do fall short from time to time.

To fulfill our task, according to Kovach and Rosenstiel, we must adhere to 10 critical ele-ments of journalism:

1. Journalism’s first obligation is to the truth.

2. Its first loyalty is to citizens.

3. Its essence is a discipline of verification.

4. Its practitioners must maintain an independence from those they cover.

5. It must serve as an independent monitor of power.

6. It must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise.

7. It must strive to make the significant interesting and relevant.

8. It must keep the news comprehensive and in proportion.

9. Its practitioners have an obligation to exercise their personal conscience.

10. Citizens, too, have rights and responsibilities when it comes to the news.

There you have it. Think about these things. Give me a call some time, or come by the newspaper office and we’ll talk it over.

In the meantime, thanks for reading. You are the reason we exist. Our readers keep re-subscribing in impressive numbers, and our news racks and store sales have actually in-creased this year.

Together, we will continue to strive to make White County a better place to live, work and play.

Billy Chism is editor and publisher of the White County News. His first cousin Ann Crowley lives in Calhoun.