Editorial: Honoring the Work of Tonda Rush

As we are committed to doing all we can to boost the viability of newspapers in our land, we lament, on the one hand, the fact that The Washington Post is still needing to lose about 280 staff members to remain solvent and, on the other, to hail and give credit to the work of so many in our field to keep the home fires burning for the indispensable role that newspapers, in particular, play in the perpetuation of democracy.

It is in the latter category that we honor the life service of two who have been so instrumental in maintaining, against the fiercest of ongoing pressures, the viability of newspapers. The data on the demise of such publications just in the last decade is downright staggering, and we at the News-Press are faced with all the same (here is where we pause to find the right word), let’s say, challenges.

The biggest single factor is, in our view, commitment. How determined is a newspaper to staying in the game, one way or the other, and why does it matter? That’s a long discussion about which we will have much to say going forward, but the answer has a lot to do with the values of positive, bonded communities overall, which can range from hyperlocal to hyper-global. Why is a newspaper essential to this? It has to do with the fact that a print newspaper exposes its readers to all its community is made of, from news to sports to weather and beyond, and not just what he or she may be looking for in isolation.

So, we celebrate the life work of Falls Church locals Tonda Rush and Carol Pierce. Their National Newspaper Association (NNA) headquarters has been right here in The Little City on Little Falls Street for years. Tonda Rush is a nationally known fierce advocate for newspapers, and she announced her retirement this month. She wrote in the NNA newsletter, “It was with a mix of excitement and sorrow that I informed NNA’s Board of Directors this fall that the time for the next step in my retirement has come…Serving NNA as its chief public policy person for three decades has been like getting a doctorate in the workings of American democracy. The importance of newspapers in helping our nation to function has never been greater, and it was my privilege to be a part of making that equation work since 1992.”

Rush recalled from “wonderful victories,” such as “obtaining the new postal sampling privilege last year to helping newspapers avoid junk fax penalties in the 90s and newsprint tariffs a decade ago, as well as preserving foreclosure public notice in the aughts, that simply would not have happened if there had not been a determined and effective organization like NNA.” Rush, she said, helped NNA to reorganize four times as the industry changed.

“Determined and effective.” So Tonda Rush has fought in her vitally important role for our democracy.