Editor's Note: Happy #LoveMyNewspaper Day

City & State Florida is taking the reins from communications savant Kevin Cate this year for #LoveMyNewspaper Day, the news business’ “favorite made-up holiday.” 

It started in 2015, according to Poynter.org. Cate, who sends the “Above the Fold” email with the front pages of Florida’s daily papers, asked readers to “share on social media why you love and subscribe to your favorite newspapers using #LoveMyNewspaper and tagging your favorite newspapers.” 

The idea is that readers tweet or post on Facebook something pithy that starts with “I #LoveMyNewspaper because…” and, of course, includes the hashtag. (Online research suggests the exact day it occurs is a bit loosey-goosey; we’re calling it today.) 

As Cate – who most recently worked for Nikki Fried’s campaign for governor – told Poynter when he first launched the trend, “It’s a very easy, ill-informed thing to do to mock journalism, whether it’s in a newspaper or on TV, and I heard it one too many times. … (I) figured I would let people know and have a chance to defend the things that they love.” (His dad, by the way, is Keith Cate, legendary anchor at WFLA in Tampa.)

Why is a digital news outlet (which also happens to publish a print magazine) taking up the mantle for the newspaper business? For readers who subscribe to our “First Read Florida” morning newsletter, the reason is evident: We link to much of the good work produced by our newspaper colleagues every day. Take today’s edition as an example. In our main links section, we highlighted:

* A story by the Miami Herald that child welfare authorities for over a year refused to hand over documents detailing the state’s failed efforts to protect a Miami toddler will cost Florida taxpayers $376,665 — money that could have been spent on at-risk children. 

* A year-long investigation by the South Florida Sun Sentinel that found victims of sex trafficking were frequently re-traumatized by a system that prosecutes them for crimes they are coerced by their traffickers into committing.

* A story by USA TODAY reporting that, though a DeSantis spokesperson said he “doesn’t make U-turns,” a plan is in the works and soon will be made public to reverse the decision to strip the Walt Disney Co. of the right to govern the land that includes Disney World.

Of course, it’s worth noting that USA TODAY’s owner and America’s largest newspaper chain, Gannett Inc., just finished its latest round of buyouts and layoffs that didn’t spare Florida. Several folks in Florida were shown the door last week, all digital producers, according to online reports and sources at the company. The layoffs were part of an overall effort "to cut about 6 percent of the company’s roughly 3,440-person U.S. media division,” the New York Times reported. 

Moreover, The Washington Post last week said it was shuttering its Sunday magazine later this month, resulting in as many as 10 layoffs, including Gene Weingarten, the only two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing.

So take a minute today and remind us – and yourself – why you love your local paper, whether it’s for the news, the sports, the entertainment or other coverage. And if you haven’t subscribed in a while, re-up today. A bunch of hard-working journalists will be glad you did.