Great city, great paper

I very much appreciated the Sept. 15 column by Keith Burris, “Greatness of the City.” I have lived in or near Pittsburgh all my life, and have loved this city since childhood. But I think I would add another attribute to his list: A great city needs a great newspaper.

I learned to read at my father’s knee sounding out words from the daily newspaper, which he never failed to read. I never lost my love of newspapers, and subscribe not only to the Post-Gazette, but to five online national newspapers. Yet I still keep my local paper subscription — because a local paper provides what a national paper does not.

Recently NPR’s “Hidden Brain” did a show devoted to newspapers. I recommend it to all who have a computer to get the free podcast. In it, the importance of keeping a local newspaper was not only emphasized but backed up with statistics.

Local newspapers are civic watchdogs. The Huffington Post does not show up for school board or city council meetings. Newspapers are like libraries, police forces or fire departments. They are civic treasures, and can’t be judged simply by their cost. The cost of losing newspapers is too often corruption and malfeasance because nobody covered the stories until it was too late.

Pittsburgh used to have morning and evening newspapers. Then we had two competing newspapers. Today, the city is down to just one. There are other modes of getting news, and newspapers are considered an unnecessary expense in many households.

But I shudder to imagine how expensive it could be if we lived in a Pittsburgh without a newspaper. No great city can afford that.

SISTER RITA YEASTED

Shaler