Tomorrow will have been exactly five years since I became the publisher of your newspaper, the Bossier Press-Tribune. That’s a long time. It doesn’t seem possible, but what a great five years this has been. This has been a wonderful honor and opportunity, a once in a lifetime experience.
I have learned so much, one of them being that this is not about me. Really, nothing that I do here is about me. It is about you, our readers. It is about our staff here at the BPT. It is about our community. I am just here to coach and lead where I am needed. I like to think of myself as a leader. In fact, you can say that I am a servant, a servant to our great staff/team here at the Bossier Press-Tribune and a servant to you. And, I have to honestly say, what a challenge, what an opportunity, what an honor, what fun.
I am often asked, what does a publisher do? Well, the short answer is, just about a little bit of everything. And, I love it! I am responsible for the bottom line and somewhat responsible for most of everything that happens here — from building maintenance to the overall presentation of your newspaper. Needless to say, there are so many responsibilities and duties that regularly take place in between the parameters that I just mentioned.
With the outstanding foundation that was established by former BPT Publisher, and current Specht Newspapers Inc. President and Owner, David Specht, I feel that we have accomplished so much both as a newspaper and as a media outlet during my time at the helm.
Having been with the Bossier Press-Tribune slightly more than 18 years now makes this question pretty easy to answer. There have been many role changes for me during my tenure. However, in some ways, nothing has changed. So, I am in a celebratory mindset these days in terms of all that I feel we have accomplished as a newspaper over the last five years. But there are still many opportunities to serve our staff, our readership and Bossier Parish, I know this best is yet to come.
The Bossier Press-Tribune is your newspaper. We are totally focused on and dedicated to Bossier Parish. In short, we are Bossier. Something that David used to tell me all of the time when I first started in this business is that a newspaper should be the “beacon” of the community. Sure, due to the marvels and wonders of today’s technology, our business has changed drastically, and the changes are by no means done, but we have adapted.
We have recently expanded our digital offerings — our BPT Daily Report is delivered straight to your email inbox seven days per week, our e-Edition allows our readers to have access to each and edition in a PDF, we offer daily news stories online across various social media. We are bringing you Bossier’s news in the formats that you have told us are important to you. Rest assured, we still plan to offer our print edition too.
Please be assured that in the midst of such a changing and dynamic industry and media environment, one thing remains constant — we are dedicated to you and bringing you accurate, readable and in-depth stories. And, as I move forward, I remain totally dedicated to our mission of “Serving God and our community.”
In closing, I want to say “thank you.” Thank you to my family for your support, encouragement and in putting up with the long hours that it takes for us to do our jobs here at the Bossier Press-Tribune. Thank you to our readership for the support and encouragement you have given me over these last five years. Thank you to our advertisers for your belief and support in our newspaper. In looking back, I get choked up and very emotional in thinking about all of the great things that have happened over these last five years. However, in looking ahead, I could not be more excited, encouraged and eager to move ahead, realizing the best is yet to come!
Randy Brown is publisher of the Bossier Press-Tribune. He can be reached at rbrown@bossierpress.com
