There is a simple reason why every trade and health organization has laid claim to at least one day, if not a whole month as its very own. It's called the "news peg."

People in the public relations business love creating news pegs because they know that hard-nosed editors are always looking for news pegs--something to hang a story on.

Some public relations campaigns clearly are more successful than others. Who, for instance, doesn't know that February is American Heart Month? But who knew that the shortest month of the year is also National Bird-feeding Month, National Bake for Family Fun Month and North Carolina Sweet Potato Month?

Most newspaper editors are way too sophisticated to fall for these public relations gimmicks. We know a news peg when we see one. And January is National Hot Tea Month is no news peg.

That's why I find myself in the awkward position of having to admit that the reason for this column is that we are smack dab in the middle of National Newspaper Week.

I learned this recently while perusing journalism websites and blogs to find out what's going on behind the scenes in the world of journalism. Or to put it more directly, who's beating up on us this week? These are tough times for journalists in both print and electronic media. Times are changing, and the networks and daily newspapers are scrambling to figure out how to survive in the era of 24-hour news, text messaging and blogs.

Daily newspapers all over the country are cutting staff. The New York Times joined the bandwagon and announced job cuts last week. Our local daily recently announced another round of buyouts in its editorial department.

What's more, media-bashing has become a popular pastime, and sadly, in many cases the media has brought it on itself.

So, this being National Newspaper Week, I have been giving some thought to the role of the community newspaper in the era of 24-hour news, text messaging and blogs.

There's no question that we are living in a time when we expect to know what's going on in the world right now--not when tomorrow morning's paper is delivered.

For those of us who put out news on a weekly basis, having to wait for next week's deadlines can be a frustration. We worry that this week's news will be ancient history by the time our readers pick up their weekly community newspaper. And in this era of accelerated news, the frustration intensifies.

Still, we continue to hear from readers that they read our papers from cover to cover, that they really care about what's going on in their own communities. National education policy is important, but what they really care about is what's happening at the schools their children attend.

Of course, it's fascinating to read about CEOs of multi-national corporations, but our readers tell us they also love reading about the owners of their neighborhood shops.

Our readers tell us they like local news because they realize they can have much more control over what happens on their street or in their neighborhood than over what happens in the halls of Congress. And they say they appreciate the fact that we consider the small neighborhood issues newsworthy.

In marketing parlance, one might describe local stories as our niche, but for those of us in community journalism, it's more than the narrow definition of how we target our product. We have a passion for how small cities and towns and neighborhoods get things done, for how the residents come together to make life better for themselves and their neighbors.

We know that in the grand scheme of things, one less tree in the world may not matter much. But publish a story about a threatened old tree, and whole neighborhoods mobilize.

And what has that one mobilization effort to do with the whole scheme of things? Simply this: Forests are felled one tree at a time. Every big movement is the result of many individuals taking action in their own backyards. It's often said that you can't fight city hall. As community journalists, we know better. We frequently report on these battles that may be small, but which also reflect on the power of everyday people to take control of their lives.

So we'll observe National Newspaper Week the same way we approach every week of the year. We'll leave the big news to the dailies, the 24-hour news networks and the blogs. We'll continue to report on the neighbors who band together to get their potholes fixed and who raise money so their kids can enjoy extra-curricular activities at school, and we'll publicize the school plays and celebrate the winners of the high school soccer games and volleyball and water polo games. Not the big stuff. Just the stuff that matters most to most people.