Local Newspapers in This Digital Age

Recently I was laid off from my job at a local newspaper. It wasn't as if I had no clue that it could happen, I knew that the wind was blowing that way-I just hoped it wouldn't blow on me. I was one of many that day that were made redundant by the economy and the internet.

I loved working at the Herald because I was so proud to be working at a newspaper. This industry, while struggling now to find a place in the media commerce of our increasingly online, digital world, has a history and a grandeur that is perhaps unappreciated by many who read it everyday. Many will not know what they are losing and why it is so important.

Local newspapers have revealed truths, have informed the masses, and have given a voice to otherwise muted citizens of this world. Newspapers have been vehicles for freedom. The "Fourth Estate" is a place to learn what our politicians do, and how they vote. One can then write a letter to the editor and praise them or excoriate them. The local newspaper reporter is very accountable to his readership. His readers are his neighbors.

A newspaper is much more portable than a computer. They are very user-friendly. No porn. An 8 year old can read it behind closed doors. Everything in it is local-we don't have to click all over the worldwide web to find cars for sale that are actually within driving distance-especially important when gas is $4.00 a gallon. Newspapers may seem cumbersome in this digital age, but they are convenient when you just want the entertainment section on Fridays, and all the open houses for Sunday. If your newspaper is swiped on the bus, it is not any kind of tragedy-financially or otherwise. It is easy to share too!

The internet is an amazing and wondrous thing-but it has limits! The problem however, are the limits that it doesn't have. It does not edit its content-at all. It is truly, often, too much information! I want to know quickly what is happening in my town, not every town of a similar name in the world! Do you know how many communities have the same name?

The newspaper business is rapidly changing and adapting to the Internet incursion. The newspaper we know now will be very different in a few years. Is that a tragedy? Probably not. The industry is filled with very creative people, and there will always be a need for both local news and advertising. Much of the news online originates in local newspapers. We need to find a way to keep the newspapers financially viable while we make the internet more family friendly and focused to our needs in maintaining community.

One day, we will all be feeling very nostalgic for the newsprint that we are now happy to recycle-after we have clipped the articles to send to our children, the recipes we want to try, the coupons we plan to use, and the picture of our favorite football player making the winning goal at our alma maters homecoming game.

Sure, the Internet is a marvelous tool. I love it. But that paper-it's just so local, portable, handy, and it has most of the information I need and the local businesses where I can obtain the things I need-I won't end up with a wonderful garage sale that turns out to be 3 states over, or a job that is in Arlington, VA, rather than Arlington, WA. There are many Community Churches in the world, but just a few in my county, and I am interested in my county. The entire world of news interests me, but this place is mine. It is local, it is my neighborhood, and the 'web' will never know it as well as my hometown paper, my hometown reporter, does. That makes the local newspaper something to appreciate now and in the future. Local newspapers have the heart of the community in a way that the Internet does not. Whether your community is big or small, you will know it better if you read your local paper.