September has been a busy month for us, preparing for the festival season as well as the local council elections, providing ample stories to cover while keeping our team on a tight schedule to make good our commitment. I take pride in the achievements of the Tribune. Being a regional newspaper with comparatively limited resources, it manages to consistently punch above its weight by successfully producing both a printed paper, while maintaining a strong online presence.

At the Tribune, we take particular pride in the genuine connections and interactions we have formed with our audience. It is fantastic to see such engagement and we sincerely welcome and appreciate the feedback we receive. Our website has been pivotal in facilitating this process and has become a well used forum where people from all walks of life are able to connect with each other. As a newspaper, we have been continually developing and seeking new ways to improve our service. We are neither perfect nor infallible but we have a strong culture of accountability, which in combination with our commitment, emboldens me with confidence in our ability for betterment.

While practicing accountability, however, it is important to distinguish genuine concerns from the baseless. As such, during these council elections, recent unfounded allegations of bias regarding the coverage of the election are but the passing of ambition, misdirected dissatisfaction that our objective reporting did not align with individual goals and intent. In the same breath, neither should social media be a place for faceless accusations, these are more often than not subjective commentary. 

With September flying by and summer approaching quickly, we look forward to the Turning Wave Festival and the Gundaroo Music Festival, to name a few. We will be there, as always, engaging with the people and ready to capture those special stories and moments which seem to accelerate time and in doing so, proudly continue to uphold our commitment to the people of the Valley.