Feb 12, 2018 2 min read

While the news media has been taking a beating in recent years, its value was on full display last week when the Observer-Reporter settled its lawsuit with the Greene County coroner’s office after receiving detailed statistical data on overdose deaths in the county the past three years.

The newspaper filed the lawsuit in July when it ran into roadblocks put up by former coroner Gregory Rohanna as reporters tried to review his annual reports in an effort to grasp the scope of the opioid epidemic.

The reports from 2015 and 2016 were finally released last week, along with similar information willingly provided by newly elected Coroner Gene Rush. What those three years showed was a spike in fentanyl deaths the past two years, along with surprising information that people in their 40s were more likely to die from accidental overdoses than young adults.

This statistical information will be vital to the community as it tries to understand the drug problem and find ways to solve it.

Newspapers and other media outlets are doing this work every day by fighting for transparency, not just for their readers and viewers, but for the communities they serve.