Each day at The Daily Herald’s new office on 609 Garden Street, I see cars whizz by our windows on the main artery in the heart of downtown Columbia. It reminds me of our growing and exciting community, our place in it and where we are all going as growth occurs around us as the fastest growing county in Tennessee.
Maury County is in the middle of great opportunities and great change, trying to balance progress and development while also preserving our rural roots and small town character.
I look forward to the new year and being a part of documenting Maury County’s continued growth into the future. I am also encouraged about The Daily Herald’s path forward in being an integral part of covering the community.
Reflecting on the past year, even though our 1969-year-old office building was demolished, the paper is still going strong. And we couldn’t be happier with our new physical location. Even though we are working on getting our exterior sign installed, you can spot us in the beautifully renovated two-story brick building with a large American flag hanging across entire south side of the building, a reminder that our staff is dedicated to bringing you the local news with a commitment to integrity and accuracy through our First Amendment rights.
Even though we haven’t operated from our old building for a long time – almost a year after its sale to the county to build a new courthouse – we have never stopped covering the community, which is evident in our staff accomplishments this year.
An example of the impact community journalism can have, The Daily Herald has received numerous awards for shedding light on the lack of development on East Eighth Street and keeping the community informed about school construction projects, property tax increases and the closing of McDowell Elementary School in 2021. In 2022, we closely covered the heated Maury County and Columbia mayoral races, the U.S. 5th Congressional District race as well as provided government news and humanistic stories in between
To recap, in August The Daily Herald won five First Place awards in the annual Tennessee Press Association contest for Best News Reporting, Best Education Reporting, Best Single Feature, Best Digital Presentation and Best Feature Photograph. We also won two Best of Gannett awards for our coverage of East Eighth Street development and our coverage of the 75th anniversary of the Columbia uprising of 1946 (referred to in the past as the Columbia race riots).
Local journalism matters, and even a smaller paper like The Daily Herald can make a difference with your support and involvement. It’s the people who make a community, and the stories of the people of Maury County and Southern Middle Tennessee matter to us.
We are proud to be anchored in downtown Columbia and look forward to what the new year will bring.
Please support your local newspaper so that we can keep delivering these stories whether it’s to your doorstep or your inbox. Contact us with y kbartlett@gannett.com.