Being a journalist these days is a lot different from a decade or even two years ago. It doesn’t matter if you work for one of the few remaining daily newspapers that have survived, a fledgling internet site or a community newspaper — things are constantly evolving.

The remaining daily newspapers have taken the brunt of the blow with deep staff cuts since the 1990s. Newspaper job cuts surged 30 percent in 2011 alone.

Coverage has also suffered at daily newspapers. The days of individual bureaus in communities, outside the main metropolitan area, are over. Community newspapers, bloggers and other various forms of electronic media have filled that need. And the thirst for community news is great.

Most journalists who have stayed in the news industry have a passion for reporting or editing.

Along with all the changes, community newspaper journalists have become the new daily reporters of the industry. The days of waiting until the weekly deadline to write a story is over.

The Kirkland Reporter newsroom is on watch 24 hours a day, seven days a week – and so is our website: www.kirklandreporter.com.

Some of the stories that you see in the print newspaper have already been posted online days earlier, while others have not been posted yet. Features on people, places and things, in-depth news research pieces and other various non-timely stories get posted to the website following the delivery of the newspaper to your door step.

But the breaking news stories are different. We, as a staff of two journalists, attempt to cover all major news in Kirkland. If a story breaks and is time sensitive you can find it on our website not long after.

When Patrick Rexroat was sentenced in downtown Seattle we were the only Kirkland-specific news source to attend the hearing. Despite being in downtown Seattle, we felt it was important to get the news of his sentence to the Kirkland community as soon as possible.

We posted the story within an hour of court being let out. This is just an example of how our website is important, not only to your lives, but to us as a reputable news source.

But the print newspaper that lands on your doorstep each week is also essential to keeping the Kirkland community informed.

We strive to do in-depth news reporting on city, school and even statewide issues that effect the residents of Kirkland. Last week, we published an in-depth news piece on the new statewide law privatizing the sales of liquor.

While this story has a regional impact, it also has a local one as well. It was featured on our website, but also was on the front page of the paper.

We get many calls about the website and how to search for stories. We have a very good search engine in the top right corner of the website’s front page. There is also a search function that can narrow searches from best match to date published. You may also go to a general search engine and type in a key word(s) along with “Kirkland Reporter.”

This can sometimes be quicker because many of our stories have the same key words in them and if the story was published recently, web search engines will find stories with recent page views faster.

While we put a great emphasis on our web product for breaking news stories and the newspaper for in-depth reportage, both products are very important to keeping the Kirkland community up-to-date on news and events.

But no matter what happens in Kirkland, you can be sure that the passion of the Kirkland Reporter newsroom will rise far and above the struggling newspaper industry. We will do everything to get the most accurate reporting to you, weekly in print, or by-the-minute online.