Why Local Newspapers Are Failing

We all know that the newspaper industry is struggling to compete against the Internet. As advertisers flee and production costs rise, newspapers are getting thinner - literally and figuratively. Daunting as the loss of ad revenue and rising production costs may be, these are not the main reasons why local newspapers are failing.

Pick up any local newspaper and you will see page after page filled with Associated Press articles and a sprinkling of articles by staff writers. This lack of unique content hardly inspires reader loyalty. While the Associated Press has its place, what makes an individual newspaper special is its identity. Relying heavily on syndicated content in place of generating its own is a self-inflicted blow to a struggling paper.

Many newspapers have laid off reporters in an effort to reduce costs while retaining their popular columnists. The remaining reporters and columnists absolutely must shine or subscribers will go elsewhere. But are these columnists adding value to the reader?

As an example, the other day in my local paper, the health columnist recycled a tired old e-mail that had been circulating the Internet for several years. The columnist wrote a few original sentences opening the column and then copied and pasted the "safety tips" from this well-circulated e-mail message. Sorry, but that's not exactly shining. I also know that the tech columnist will plug his favorite image editing program in at least three out of four columns and that a regular opinion columnist will discuss the evils of electronic voting most of the time. I don't even bother reading their columns anymore because I've read them before.

My local newspaper also regularly publishes cute photos of baby animals on its back page. Surrounding these cute photos are grisly stories making headlines (all syndicated mind you). As a parent, you might want to show your child the cute picture. However, you don't dare because of the violent headlines surrounding it. In addition, this back page section with its cute photos and sensational news stories regularly appears on the back page of the "School News" and "Science Tech" sections of the paper. Guess who enjoys reading those two sections of the paper? Students.

I lay most of the blame for the lack of value that my paper delivers on poor editorial decisions, not loss of ad revenue. While I understand that with less money coming in, there's less money to spend, I also understand that it doesn't cost anything to refuse to print a poorly written article or column. It is up to the editor to insist that writers submit original work instead of recycling viral e-mail messages or rehashing the same old topics. With so many highly qualified journalists out of work across the nation, writers are a dime a dozen and these columnists are easily replaceable. Finally, it is up to the editor to ensure that articles about beheadings and machete attacks are not included in the sections of the newspaper most likely to be read by students.

Having talked to other newspaper subscribers, the problems with my local paper are not unique. It appears that the newspapers have lost sight of the needs of their customers. We want to support the local paper, but we also want value. We do not want a homogeneous collection of syndicated articles; we want original news. Give us something to think about. Give us something that we can't get on our Yahoo home page. Give us what we want and we may even be willing to pay extra for it to help you offset some of your losses. Fail to give us what we want and we'll go elsewhere.

Syndicated content, unoriginal columnists, and poor editing have me reconsidering my support of the local newspaper. I continue to subscribe because I like the morning ritual of reading the paper while drinking my coffee. However, this ritual is wearing nearly as thin as my newspaper. What used to be an enjoyable hour now takes under twenty minutes and I have coffee to spare! I'd switch newspapers, but the competition is just as thin. I guess I'll go online.