The Oakland Press prides itself on catering to its local readers.

When we write a story, it is about something or someone who is from Oakland County or an event that has occurred in the county. If we feature an out of the county story, it’s probably because there is some local angle involved.

The Opinion Page operates basically the same way. We run letters to the editor and guest opinions from people who are from Oakland County. We write editorials concerning local issues.

Of course, sometimes we take a swipe a legislator or focus on our state capital because something that is going on there could affect Oakland County.So, to answer the question, why did we this week write an editorial about State Sen. Bruce Patterson, R-Canton Township, the answer should be fairly clear. While a legislator from outside the county, he has a message that could affect everyone in Oakland.

In fact, his concerns should be the concerns of citizens not only throughout Michigan but throughout the nation.He’s worried about the “legitimate” media going out of the business because of financial problems and eventually, maybe in a generation or two, leaving the state in the hands of people and news organizations that manipulate the system for their own gain.

Patterson notes that even now, important information isn’t getting to the general public. He fears that when his granddaughter grows up, there will not be reliable news sources for her. The media has a responsibility to get real information out to the people so they can get informed and vote based on accurate, real facts, he says, other wise people will get all sorts of misinformation.

To get our attention, Patterson introduced legislation that called for a deposit on all newspapers — similar to the one placed on bottles. Such a fee would put newspapers out of business but Patterson admits he doesn’t plan to pursue the regulations, it was ruse to get some attention for his concerns.

He did get our attention. Newspaper editors have been awakened by his proposal and now are more than willing to listen to him and his message, which most of us share. The message is not just for the media but to all citizens who value the free flow of accurate information.

So, there are several reasons why we wrote about Patterson, even though he is out of the area. His personality is engaging, one that our readers would find interesting. His tactics are unorthodox, to say the least, but they also are some out of the box thinking, which Michigan badly needs to get back on the road to economic recovery. And most important, his message is something that must be shared and spread.