Newspapers are dying. Apparently. So they say.
Call me na’ve, but I’m not convinced.
Over vacation, in an interview with Justin Ellis, who was writing about the same topic for his Monday column in the Press Herald, I told him that I thought newspapers were simply finding themselves again.
Finding themselves in the face of a supposedly apathetic public, or an apathetic young public; in the face of losing ad revenue and viewers to the worldwide web; and all of this under an economy that seems to get worse every day.
I don’t think that the public is apathetic. I don’t even think that they’re numb, even after the major media blasts of the last decade, including Monica Lewinsky, Sept. 11, Hurricane Katrina and the Iraq war. Not that those events weren’t important – but sometimes, enough is enough.
No, numb isn’t what we are. And if people have stopped reading because they don’t care, it’s because newspapers and the media aren’t giving them the things they care about.
According to a 2006 National Newspaper Association report, readership of small, community newspapers is actually up.
“Despite stories of readership challenges and continued pressure from shareholders for even-larger profit margins at large dailies, the community newspaper industry is growing and thriving,” said Jerry Reppert, listed then as president of the NNA.
Why are they doing so well? They’re the primary source of essential, local news.
While I respect and admire the people working at the Press Herald – because they’re doing what I aspire to do – I have to admit that I wouldn’t choose to read their newspaper.
Why do I need to read the AP wire stories that saw yesterday on my Yahoo RSS news-feed? Why do I need to re-hash the story I saw on last night’s news?
And I’m not asking for more breaking news content on their website, which is what they seem to have begun doing in response to the news “crisis.”
I want local. Portlanders, of all people, should know the feeling.
Portlanders “Buy Local.” They eat local. I want to read local.
As editor of the Free Press, I have learned to think on an ultra-local scale. We cover USM. We feature our students – my peers; our professors – my teachers and friends.
And though I’m hardly in a position to judge our content, since I help create it, they are who I, and I think you, want to be reading about.
I have two issues of the Press Herald pinned to the bulletin board above my desk: one is folded to show Beth Quimby’s Jan. 25 story, “Faculty grills candidate for USM president.” Why did I keep it? I’m quoted on page four.
The second I’ve kept is only two weeks old: the one in which I tell Justin Ellis about newspapers.
When I took over as Sports Editor last semester, I did so with the intention of improving what I thought was the weakest section in the paper. As a former USM athlete, I knew how much it sucked. It wasn’t about the athletes, it was about games. And not even the good games.
When I took over as Executive Editor this semester, I had the same goal on a larger scale.
In order to gain the attention of you, our readers, we needed to write about things you cared about. About you. About your friends. About what’s going on and how it affects you.
This is where the community newspaper thrives. The national news and the AP wire doesn’t cover high school basketball games. And I’m pretty sure the national news could care less about the current mess at Cape Elizabeth – but I bet the Cape Courier found its way into a few more hands than usual last week.
When our Feb. 11 edition featured “My professor’s my boyfriend” and “26 academic programs put on probation” on it’s front page, it flew off the racks.
And because we were able to break the 26 programs story days before the Press Herald had it – because our reporters, friends with the student senators, knew to be at that particular meeting – our website had a record number of hits and was linked from U.S. News & World Report.
We have the opportunity, when we’re not also trying to be in class, to beat and be better than the Press Herald in our locale, USM.
The Press Herald, and other newspapers nationwide, should take the time to find their own locale, and let AP do what it does best.
In regards to the worldwide web, that’s a whole other can of worms. But if newspapers can refocus their coverage, I think the rest will come in stride.
Like I told Justin, there will always be journalism – there will always be news.
Sarah Trent
Executive Editor