Newspapers have about as many editors as they have readers, folks in the Fourth Estate are fond of saying.

Everyone has his own idea of how a newspapers should be run and most don’t mind telling you by pen, mouth or subscriptions (or lack of them).

The archdiocese has entered into a compact with the dioceses of Savannah and Charleston in an effort to produce a larger, more readable product.

Each will continue however, to have its own distinctive flavoring of local news, pictures and editorials.

Economics is the main reason for the compact. The religious press, like its big brother, commercial newspapers, is suffering from rising costs of labor and materials.

The compact was a case of unite or die for at least two of the dioceses.

Every diocese needs a newspaper. We united.

Merely to have a newspaper, however, is not enough. It must be read to accomplish its purpose. It must be good to be read.

We at The Bulletin will try to make it a good newspaper, so that it will be read, but help is needed. Cooperation from the parishes, schools, hospitals and other organizations is sought in sending in their news of general interest.

Constructive criticism is needed. Don’t just tell us what the problem is, suggest a way to solve it. If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.

We hope to make letters to the editor an interesting feature of The Bulletin, and here again the readers can help.

Letters to the editor are a kind of continuing reader interest and opinion survey of not only the condition of the newspaper, but of the church, city, county, state, nation and world. The more outspoken the better.

Many an editor, convinced that mankind is headed for a canine kennel, has had his faith renewed by a scrawled note from a reader just telling it like it is.

The eight-column, full-page format which you see today will give much more room for local news than the five-column tabloid of previous days. There also will be more columnists of various shades of opinion. Some you’ll like, others…The paper will be arriving a day later due to the production process.

We hope to give you what you want and not what someone else thinks you should have. This is based on the premise that you want to read news that is not always comforting, but is truth as the writer knows it.

It is also based on the premise that you want others opinions, although they may not necessarily agree with your own. In short, it assumes that you wish news and opinions of the far left, center and far right and wish to make up your mind about what is the truth.

And if your version of the truth is different from ours, then we assume you’ll let us know.

This newspaper should be a balanced reflection of the actions and opinions of the archdioceses on clergy and laity from Upson County to Fannin, and from Columbia to Carroll.

We’re shooting at this goal, and would appreciate your help.