News isn't good for local newspapers, their readers

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

By Margaret Sullivan / The Washington Post

Given the tumult in the realm of government and politics, the dire state of the local newspaper industry may seem minor.

But it’s of crucial importance to the future of the nation. Local watchdog journalism matters: Just check the front page of the Baltimore Sun, which on Thursday carried a huge headline about the former mayor’s indictment; the Sun — even in its diminished state — broke a story in March that set those wheels in motion.

I could give you dozens of other examples from this year alone. And consider that sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein might have gotten away with most of his misdeeds if not for local journalism, particularly at the Miami Herald.

But the recent news about the news could hardly be worse.

-snip-

Gannett and GateHouse, two major newspaper chains, finished their planned merger, and the combined company intends to cut the combined budget by at least $300 million. That will come on top of unending job losses over the past decade in the affected newsrooms of more than 500 papers.

The McClatchy newspaper group — parent of the Miami Herald and Charlotte Observer — is so weighed down by debt and pension obligations that analysts think it is teetering on bankruptcy.

-more-

https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/comment-news-isnt-good-for-local-newspapers-their-readers/

[guillaumeb]

1. Recommended.

On a personal note, my daughter is an editor for a Chicago paper.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. Anybody asking just why this is the case? Some of us have a clue, but the answer may lie under...

a tub of swampwater.

[Mr.Bill]

5. Loss of ad revenue is a major factor.

Classified ads are almost non existent. Very few businesses advertise in the newspapers anymore. The internet has taken all that over.

[dem4decades]

3. My local paper is a right wing rag. I hate it but i like the guy that delivers it.

I so want to dump it but for some reason i don't.

[Farmer-Rick]

4. I cancelled my conservative rag years ago.

When I cancelled, I explained they were way too conservative for me. The guy laughed and said many people complain they are too liberal. They are not liberal, not in the least. There isn't a pro trump or GOP talking point that has not appeared in that rag.

[Paka]

7. My radical right wing brother-in-law complains all the time...

about how liberal his Eugene, Oregon newspaper is. I shake my head and laugh. The Eugene community may be liberal, but the newspaper is very conservative.

[Farmer-Rick]

12. Yeah, it's like so many people have forgotten what a true liberal idea is.

[jmowreader]

13. Right wingers always say that about newspapers

One of the weeklies we print makes The New American, the mouthpiece of the John Birch Society, look like a leftist rag. They run at least two letters a month complaining about how “liberal” the paper is.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. My local newspaper, the Santa Fe New Mexican,

is pretty good. What I like best is that I really can keep up with local news.

A friend of mine tends to sneer at it and say, "That rag?" but then I'm real aware of all of the local issues, including things like new restaurants (and our friendship, which really is a good one) mostly involves going out to eat.

[JohnnyRingo]

8. I read my conservative local paper every day.

...and I have all my 50 years of adulthood.

Really, only the opinion page betrays it's conservative bent so it's not hard to read that page with consideration of that fact. If people are reluctant to read a newspaper because they may be brainwashed or swayed from their values, I can tell you first hand it doesn't work. They also run such weekly editorials as by Robert Reich and Froma Harrop, but the cartoon is always to the right.

The syndicated news articles by Reuters and AP are often more in depth than internet summations. I think people who get news on the net click out of what they see as excessive minutia.

[reACTIONary]

9. My local, home town rag is...

... the Washington Post. So I guess that's something of a special case.

[murielm99]

10. We need the local papers

so that we can keep up with local news and events.

The one I read and subscribe to is very conservative. I complain all the time. If they want more subscribers, they should maintain a balance. There are more liberal readers than conservative, IMHO.

[Sherman A1]

11. We need the local journalism fund as proposed by Andrew Yang

https://www.yang2020.com/policies/local-journalism-fund/

https://www.yang2020.com/policies/american-journalism-fellows/

[Cetacea]

14. Local Community Newspapers are always liberal in function

"They still are one of the ways that many communities maintain a sense of unity and shared facts.

Losing that should be unthinkable. But as of this moment, it isn’t."