Although it may sound simple and even overstated, my goal is to help put the “Winchester” back in The Winchester Sun.

That guiding principle is at the foundation of the vision for this community newspaper. Accurate, in-depth local news is what will continue to make our publications relevant and vital to our readers.

The staff has done a great job of focusing on this in recent weeks, but we want to continue to push that to the next level.

I often sound like a broken record — because it’s a tune worth repeating — but if you want to know everything going on in Lexington, what the politicians are doing in Washington, D.C. or how the international monetary market is trending, don’t pick up The Winchester Sun.

It would be a waste of your money.

Now, if you want to know all the fun things going on with an upcoming local festival, want to learn more about the new business on Main Street, know all the great things happening in the Clark County schools or what the elected officials are doing to impact your pocketbook, then we want to be the first place you turn.

This hyper-local focus includes having a strong voice in the community by returning to the idea that the newspaper should be an active leader by having a local Opinion page and an editorial board in tune with what’s going on in the community and leading the way in commentary about those happenings.

Most days that will be simply giving “attaboys” to those who deserve it. Sometimes it may require fair analysis and constructive critique of an issue to help move our community forward.

Our board will consist of managing editor Whitney Leggett, operations manager Mark Walker and myself. We will also seek input from others on the leadership team here at the Sun, but I promise you our views won’t be influenced by someone in Danville, Frankfort or anywhere else.

We also intend for our Opinion page to showcase a full spectrum of community voices through letters to the editor, more regular local columnists and guest contributors.

Have something to say? We want to hear it and we want share it with the community.

It is no secret that newspapers have to evolve and change to remain relevant to people’s lives. We will work to do that in a variety of ways but certainly that includes offering more ways to reach readers and embracing the digital age.

The Internet will be a valuable part of this strategy, but anyone who thinks it will make a newspaper obsolete is missing the big picture.

One of my favorite quotes, and I have no idea who said it first, is this: Saying you don’t need newspapers because you get your news online is like saying you don’t need farmers because you get your food at the grocery store.

The Winchester Sun cannot be everything to everybody.

What we can — and will  — be is a community leader singularly focused on what we can do better than any other media outlet: comprehensively cover everything going on in Winchester and Clark County.

That is what this community wants and that is what this community deserves. It won’t happen overnight, but that’s what The Winchester Sun will deliver on by building on a 130-year legacy of serving the citizens. 

Michael Caldwell is publisher of The Winchester Sun and Winchester Living magazine. He can be reached at (859) 759-0095 or by email at mike.caldwell@winchestersun.com.