The Importance of Local
by Tony Tone
March 14, 2020

Did you know that this very Discover Muscatine newspaper is owned locally by people here in Muscatine? The offices of Pearl City Media are located at 215 East 2nd street in historic downtown Muscatine. The folks that work there all live in or around Muscatine County, along with the owner of the paper.

It’s nice knowing you can have a conversation with Chris Anderson (owner and operator) and see how connected he is to the quality of the product. Chris is a lifelong Muscatine resident and is tangible the way a local media owner should be.

I’m so thankful to have this column each week in a truly locally owned and operated paper. The amount of feedback I have personally received since I’ve started to write this has been incredible. I appreciate when people tell me they’ve enjoyed something I’ve written.

The Discover Muscatine team leads the market in terms of covering local news, sports, events, and highlighting all the good things happening across Muscatine County. It’s a big responsibility to build the paper each week so that’s it ready to be delivered to 22,500 mailboxes.

In terms of covering area sports including Muscatine High School, that’s what local media is all about. Our athletes deserve to have their games broadcast live. The Discover Muscatine crew has also covered various band performances and ensures that all activities are reported on.

There are so many stories happening throughout Muscatine County that justify the need for strong local media like this paper. It might feel like “Mayberry” at times, but you have to consider just how much larger our county truly is. I think of all the current work being done with the Muscatine County Freedom Rock in Wilton, the All Veteran’s Memorial in Fruitland, and the efforts to stop the county from cutting funding to Special Olympics. All of those stories have been covered with great care by the folks at this newspaper, online, and of course, on social media.

They don’t get the proper recognition, and I’m happy to acknowledge the efforts! Kudos to Chris, Sarah, Margaret, Ashley, Jordan, Alex, Fey and everyone who contributes content on a weekly basis.

My ask from you is to keep the flow of information going. If you are connected to something newsworthy going on, please let the Discover Muscatine folks know so they can report on it.

The same goes for my “Hy-Vee Today with Tony Tone” show. I am always looking for good guests to feature.

One of the reasons I love this community is how honest people are. I work at a public place (Hy-Vee) and folks will constantly tell me people I should interview, things the store should do more of (event suggestions/sale ideas). There is no barrier when it comes to engaging in conversation, and I am a fan of that. Muscatine is a great place to live, work, and raise a family and it takes all of us to achieve that. Here’s to the continued success of locally owned media outlets like this paper!

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