I have worked in five newspapers in three states before I made the move to Page a year ago.
One thing I’ve noticed in every other paper is when the lead news is bad news — a big crime, someone dies, a big fire — more papers are sold and more people talk about it on social media.
But things are a little different in Page.
Yes, in Page, hard news as we call it, still gets noticed. When there is a big bust, an accident or news like that, we do see an uptick in paper sales and social media interaction.

But if you really want to get people in Page excited, there is one key way to do it — print positive stories about people in Page.
I have noticed this trend several times, but it really stuck out to me over the last week thanks to a story about Jessie Yniquez. I placed the story on our Facebook page Friday and as of Monday morning, it has been seen by more than 3,000 people and liked by close to 70. Those are both the top numbers we saw in March.
To put it in perspective, a story announcing the arrest of a man for burying a body and taking more than $300,000 in benefits illegally was seen by just over 500 people.
A story related to the fire department needing more EMTs was seen by around 1,000.
So kudos to our readers. It is nice in this day and age to see positive stories, news about people in Page doing good things, get people excited.
I will certainly keep that in mind as we look for stories in the future.