I wasn’t sure whether to write this article in third person or first person, but the familiar tone wins out, once again, for two reasons.

First, referencing yourself in third person is just too weird. Second, the third-person nutgraph of this article would have made for a really stilted, inverted-pyramid lead:

“Kane County Connects Editor Rick Nagel today joined the board of the Northern Illinois Newspaper Association … ”

One of the things I’ve tried to do in my role as Kane County Connects editor and in my past life as editor of the Geneva and Batavia Patch sites is to let go of some of my formal training in journalism school (University of Illinois, 1979) and find a conversational voice that makes a reader’s experience (your experience) a little more personal, and I hope, a little more enjoyable. During my long career in the newspaper business, I enjoyed challenging convention, and this form of storytelling is one way we can signal to you that this product is a little bit out of the ordinary.

At the same time, I think that journalism training and background is one of the reasons Kane County Connects has been so successful and why this digital outreach program is unique.

Innovation is part of the mission of Kane County, and we hope that spirit is channeled through Kane County Connects. In some ways, we’re a lot like any other government newsletter, blog and social-media communications effort, but in a few, subtle ways we are, as Monty Python used to say, “something completely different.”

I call it “journalism.gov.” Basically, what we’re trying to do is take a lot of the good stuff I learned in journalism school, add in a quarter-century of joyful, ink-stained newspaper experience and sprinkle a dash of AOL online, multi-media training to mold a new brand of digital government outreach. The idea is to make the government conversation more lively, more useful, more of a service to the citizens and communities of Kane County.

Hifalutin? Probably. Hyperbole? I hope not.

But I digress. This article formally announces that today (Sept. 11, 2015) I did in fact join the board of the Northern Illinois Newspaper Association, and I wanted to take a minute to say why that’s a good thing.

First and foremost, NINA is a great organization, with a long history of promoting excellence in local news reporting, community service and journalism education. It’s founded in some valuable core principles, and its board is made up of a lot of terrific people.

For Kane County Connects, NINA membership reminds us of our mission (“Engaged Citizens. Involved Communities. Open Government”) and creates at least the potential for partnerships and collaboration. That potential doesn’t in any way preclude or exempt the news media from its responsibility to act as government watchdog. But it does acknowledge that the highest purpose of traditional media and government media is public service. Our mission statements are concentric circles, and the place where we join is our shared audience (citizens, readers, unique visitors, residents, voters — whatever word you want to use for human beings in Kane County) and a shared commitment to making life just a bit better for the people we serve.

NINA membership also signals that Kane County Connects isn’t just your average, run-of-mill, just-for-the-heck-of-it government outreach. We’re participating, we’re connecting, we’re aspiring to be a little bit better every day.

This connection says something nice about you, as well. So many of you (for the Kane County Connects newsletter alone, that’s more than 8,200 daily, and another 900-plus weekly) have been kind enough to follow along with this Kane County Connects experiment, and we appreciate your investment in time and attention. All the research indicates that people like you (yes, I’m talking to you) are better informed, better educated and more involved in their communities than those folks who don’t “connect.”

I know that newspaper readers are special people who participate in local government. (Quick example: Eighty-six percent of voters who cast ballots in the last local election read newspapers in print or online. SOURCE: NNA.) I know it’s true of Kane County Connects readers, as well.

Again, thanks for listening, and sorry to be so long-winded. Now you probably wish I used that old, dependable inverted pyramid. 🙂

MAIN PHOTO CAPTION: NINA’s standard “mug” shot.

About NINA

The Northern Illinois Newspapers Association is a nonprofit organization representing newspapers and media in Northern Illinois. Based on the campus of Northern Illinois University, its members include daily newspapers, as well as nondailies, other print publications and online products. Its mission is to enhance and support journalism and journalism education in Northern Illinois. For more information, visit the NINA website and NINA Facebook page.