Imagine Berkshire County without a newsroom.

No reporter in the back of a school auditorium as a town meeting stretches past 10 p.m. No sports reporter or photographer on the sideline under the lights. No editor asking one more question when something doesn't quite add up.

Maybe just a website — updated from somewhere else — covering the region in broad strokes.

That's the path many local newspapers took over the past decade.

It's not the path The Berkshire Eagle took.

Ten years ago today, when Fred Rutberg, Hans Morris, Bob Wilmers and Stan Lipsey returned The Eagle to local ownership, it marked a turn for Berkshire County.

After enduring several years under a hedge fund's "efficiency" squeeze, The Eagle's new local ownership put forth a simple premise and a serious promise: Strong journalism builds trust, and trust sustains a newsroom.

With that mission — and the backing to pursue it — the newsroom grew. Today, The Eagle has more than 30 journalists producing deeper, broader coverage of the Berkshires.

In the decade since, that has meant asking — and answering — questions that matter:

Why are so many bridges in this county broken?

Why was a local museum auctioning its art?

Why was a church covering up a bishop credibly accused of abuse?

Why are police officers pulling triggers in moments of crisis?

That work has forced transparency, changed policy and held those in power to account. It has also done something just as important: captured this community as it lives — its achievements, its struggles and the moments in between.

The Eagle has become more than a source of information. It has been a convener — hosting debates, public forums and conversations with people shaping life in the Berkshires. It has expanded how it tells stories, through new publications, new story formats like vertical video. It has brought deeper coverage of arts, business and everyday life.

Just as important, it has stayed present.

Our reporters are at the meetings. Our photographers are at the scene. Our sports writers are on the sidelines. Our editors are stitching it all together, in print and online.

And when we're not working, we're here in this community with you — in line at the grocery store, at our kids' sports games, walking the same streets.

That proximity matters. It builds trust.

The past decade hasn't been that easy. The pandemic tested every assumption about how the work of journalism is done and how its business is sustained.

But if there's one lesson from these past 10 years, it's this: Trust is more valuable than anything on a balance sheet.

That trust — earned through credible journalism — has helped grow The Eagle's paid circulation and sustain this newsroom. It's been reinforced by readers who support our Local Journalism Fund, ensuring that essential coverage continues.

In many places throughout the United States, local newspapers have disappeared or been hollowed out. When that happens, something more than a business is lost. Communities start to unravel, and then they begin to crumble.

And democracy begins to fail us when it's left to function in the dark.

Imagine this community without that.

Here, because of local ownership — and because of readers who value this work — that hasn't happened.

But it's not something to take for granted.

The Berkshire Eagle will continue to invest in its journalism and improve how we deliver it, including rolling out improved digital products in the months ahead.

We'll keep asking hard questions. We'll keep showing up.

Thank you for your support over the past 10 years.

Now the next 10 begin.