ROD H
It’s no secret that times have been difficult in the world of print journalism.
According to one study, 2,886 total newspapers (2,627 weeklies) closed or merged between 2004 and 2023.
Perhaps this is where we insert Mark Twain’s oft-quoted, “The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”
While this isn’t an eulogy, it’s hard to deny the evidence.
As we observe National Newspaper Week (Oct. 6-12) we are proud of the ink flowing through our veins. In our lifetime, we’ve seen a remarkable transformation of the industry from hot lead and linotype machines to the current desktop technology.
It would be easy to lament what’s happened to newspapers over the past decade in general and, in particular, community journalism. But we no have intention of sounding like a drunk crying into our whiskey glass, bemoaning the loss of our wife, our youth or putting our life savings into Trump Media stocks.
We don’t need to spend our evenings at a tavern expecting the barkeep to hear our sob story while pouring another shot. He doesn’t have the answer to what ails the newspaper industry . . . maybe no one does.
The Local Journalism Sustainability Act that, like so much, has become bogged down in a do-nothing Congress, would provide tax credits for subscribers and businesses that advertise in local newspapers. It’s an idea worth pursuing.
But, the challenges facing print journalism aren’t the same for everyone and possible solutions go well beyond tax credits.
Daily newspapers, because they are in larger media markets, have been attractive to hedge fund managers and other investors who are buying up newspaper chains — not because they have a passion for journalism but because they see a financial opportunity.
As a result, once lucrative and profitable newspapers have seen newsrooms decimated, facilities downsized and printing operations centralized to eliminate overhead and squeeze out profits.
In Kansas, daily newspapers that once had a large regional following have eliminated most of their reporters to the point where they barely cover what’s happening within their own city.
Is it any surprise their readership has plummeted?
Small-town newspapers aren’t going to be swallowed up by a larger chain, but they struggle with a declining population (and readership) along with the loss of their retail business community. No longer do they have the advertising base that had always been a lifeline of a newspaper.
While we have been able to buck that trend to some degree, it doesn’t come without a lot of hard work and long hours. When asked on occasion what it takes to remain successful as a small-town newspaper, we offer a one-word response: relevance.
That includes coverage of city council meetings, local sports, 4-H events, offering feature stories about community members and so much more. And it means holding local officials accountable for how they spend our tax dollars.
Quite honestly, too many small-town newspapers have given up on that. It’s too much work, and so their continued decline becomes a self-fulfilling expectation.
And let’s not even get started on the toxic nature of social media and how it’s become a “news” source for too many individuals seeking anything but real news.
Last spring, an individual approached us during a state basketball tournament and said, “It sure is good to see our local newspaper here covering the game.”
First of all, while we’re from the next town over, it felt good to be thought of as the “local” newspaper. And, secondly, it confirms that people see value in having news coverage which provides a lasting reminder of memorable events — something which social media will never fulfill.
We aren’t buggy whip manufacturers trying to cling to something which no longer has value. History, in fact, reminds us of the irreplaceable role of print journalism.
We shouldn’t forget, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist David Halbertstam, while stationed in Saigon, earned the ire of government officials during the early 1960s with his honest reporting of the Vietnam War.
This was followed in 1971 by publishing of the Pentagon Papers in the Washington Post and New York Times.
In 1965, the Hutchinson News received a Pulitzer Prize for its editorial campaign on legislative reapportionment, contending the state’s legislative seats were unfairly distributed.
It was Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post who revealed that Watergate was more than a bungled break-in.
The Marion Record not only provided a window to small-town politics, but offered a warning of what could happen if not for diligent and responsible reporting of local government.
These are lessons every community and every voter should take to heart ... if they are capable of putting down their iPhone or breaking their social media addiction long enough to see what’s happening in the real world.
Newspapers have always been in a unique position to find the truth and to hold people accountable. Today, online journalists (i.e., The Kansas Reflector and ProPublica) are also helping to fill that critical role.
After more than six decades, we are convinced that community journalism is no less relevant today than when we entered this profession. As each week’s publication arrives in the mail or hits the newsstand, we hope our readers are reminded of that.
We can’t predict what the future holds for newspapers, but if it includes our demise, it’s not a world that we want to see and neither should you.
Rod Haxton is publisher of The Scott County Record. He can be reached at [email protected].
