MyVoice: The ones who hold the glue stick

The need to be sticky.

There are purple, blue, white and clear glue sticks, plus an assortment of others if just the right ingredients are added. No matter the color, the purpose is the same: hold things together.

That is what journalism does.

**A newsstand in New York in 1940**. 1STDIBS.COM

National Newspaper Week, Oct. 4-10, is a time to celebrate newspapers and the people who make them possible. Since 1940, the Newspaper Association Managers have sponsored and supported the weeklong celebration of the newspaper industry in the United States and Canada.

National Newspaper Week is about more than the paper. It is about connection.

“In small towns, suburbs and cities across America, local newspapers are there for the moments that matter,” Lynne Lance, the 2026 NNW Chair and Executive Director for the National Newspaper Association, said. “…How we deliver the news has changed. Why we do it hasn’t.”

Journalism keeps people informed. It gives a voice to people who might otherwise go unheard. It holds institutions accountable and asks questions to those in charge. It creates a record of decisions, celebrations, controversies and ordinary moments that would otherwise disappear.

Without journalism, communities can lose more than information. They lose a shared understanding of their history and why it mattered.

Student journalism carries that onto campus.

For many student journalists, the journey begins with a shaky hand, a pencil and a notepad. The first interview has the awkward introduction, frantic scribbling while trying to maintain eye contact and constant worry about what quote will fit the lede.

Then the right color glue is found.

The notepads have become laptops, but the shaky hand has become a confident handshake. The nervous introductions are practiced questions and the fear is erased by curiosity.

Reporting for the Marion Chronicle Tribune demonstrated how journalism can create connections with local businesses and the community and how much can happen in a little town in Indiana. Working with The Echo at Taylor University showed how a newsroom can help students grow, find their voices and realize how important words are. The Clarion at Sinclair and The Echo force their reporters to be dedicated to the story while living inside of it.

**Student journalists interviewing someone**. IRRCEDUCATION.COM

Telling stories through journalism becomes a part of a student’s life and rhythm. All these experiences are sticky.

Stick to the facts. Stick with the questions. Stick around when the story gets complicated. Stick with the people who trust journalists to tell their stories. Stick with the colors that bring each word to life.

Student journalists are observers, listeners, question-askers, photographers, editors and occasionally just humans frantically trying to meet a deadline while wondering where the comma went.

They document life while living it.

The development of a journalist is not merely learning how to write, but learning to listen, connect and tell the truth.

Sometimes the truth makes people feel uncomfortable. But journalism is not supposed to be a bottle of Elmer’s designed to make everything look pretty.

Journalism holds all the pieces together.

Freedom of the Press is a core Constitutional right and part of what makes the United States stand apart. It is the glue that holds society together.

This National Newspaper Week, remember the glue-stick people who keep asking questions, telling stories and putting one page in front of another.

Because newspapers may change. But the need for journalism does not. Communities will always need someone to hold the glue stick.

Lisa Pinsenschaum, reporter

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