Numerous Manitowoc news articles have been deleted from the Herald Times Reporter web site. This action results in substantial loss of public access to our recent history, including the chronology of the campaign to bring school lunch to Manitowoc public schools, and numerous articles regarding public access to government meetings and records.

It is unclear if the removal of these articles was a deliberate act, or if it was simply the consequence of disregard for the historical and public value of these documents. Unfortunately, the loss of documents with historical and public discourse value is compounded by Gannett's use of legal threats to prohibit others from capturing and reposting (caching) Gannett copyrighted materials. Many news organizations do not prohibit such caching.

Civic minded consumers should be aware that the selection of responsible news providers significantly contributes to the historical and public use of news documents.