The decline of a venerable American newspaper

In Mark Shanahan’s story about the demise of The Providence Journal (“In Providence, the muting of a once fearsome watchdog,” Page A1, Dec. 25), he could have mentioned The Enterprise of Brockton as another example of a newspaper decimated by Gannett/GateHouse. The Enterprise used to be the glue that held the community together, providing all the important local and regional news and especially keeping readers informed about the activities and actions of our local government. The disappearance of this common thread, this common source of information, is the greatest loss in all of this.

Those of us who pay attention to local politics know that most of our fellow townsfolk no longer know what’s going on. The randomness of information provided on social media does not replace a comprehensive local newspaper. It’s truly a sad state of affairs and one that adds to other threats against democracy.

SAM BAUMGARTEN

Bridgewater

The decline of papers like The Providence Journal is terrible. The Globe loves to paint GateHouse as the evil empire. GateHouse did not take over a thriving enterprise and then gut it, as implied in the article.

American newspapers declined precipitously for a number of reasons, not because of GateHouse (now called Gannett). One was the loss of the enormously profitable classified advertising, due in large part to the Internet, which the article alludes to. Another was the collapse of the urban department stores that supported the papers. A third was a preference among younger readers to get news from social media, or not at all.

DOUG SMOCK

North Weymouth