Starting this week, I am going to be taking over this editorial space more often. My goal is to use it not just to weigh in on the issues of the day, but to bring readers a little further inside the work of running a local newspaper.

There is a lot of inside baseball in this business that most readers never see. There are choices about what we cover, what we don’t have the time or resources to cover, how we build trust, how we pay for the work and how we keep a 117-year-old newspaper moving forward in a media world that is changing under everyone’s feet.

We are in a transitional time for local news. Newspapers across the country are trying to figure out how to serve readers who still care deeply about their communities but now get information in a dozen different ways. At The Tribune, we are trying to navigate that change carefully. We want to grow with our audience, not chase trends for the sake of chasing them. We want to bring you along for the ride as we try new things, make improvements and figure out what this newspaper needs to be for the next generation.

Part of that means expanding the kind of coverage we know matters. If you read and appreciated the recent water story I wrote, part two will be coming out soon. I am also looking at making water a bigger part of our ongoing news coverage. In this region, water is not just an environmental issue. It is tied to growth, housing, industry, agriculture, city planning and the long-term future of our communities. We need to understand it better, explain it clearly and keep following it.

That is the kind of work I want this space to be about. Some announcements but mostly an ongoing conversation about where this paper is headed and how we can make it better. I want readers to understand what we are trying, why we are trying it and how they can be part of shaping it.

So please email me any thoughts or concerns about the paper at shawnwhite@yourtrib.com. I want to hear what you think we are doing well, what we are missing and what you want to see more of. I may use this space to respond to some of those questions and ideas because the only way to make this paper as great as it can be is to keep listening to the people it exists to serve.