EDITORIAL:
Newspapers are relevant
Newspapers are often the subject of news headlines. It seems particularly so of late. On May 24, Advance Publications announced that the 175year- old New Orleans Times- Picayune will suspend daily operations and print just three days a week.
The Newhouse family- owned company also announced that three of its Alabama dailies – the Birmingham News, The Huntsville Times, and the Mobile Press- Register – will follow the same printing schedule, which begins in the fall.
Casual consumers of business and industry moves might view this latest one as just another indicator of the struggling U. S. economy. However, members of the Fourth Estate and the public, who use and depend on them to root out the truth and bring wrongdoing to light, know they have lost yet another partner in that fight.
For career journalists, of course, this is a painful letting go that has less to do with a job or position and much more to do with perseverance, courage, tireless dedication and a fierce determination to tell the stories of people – who they are, how they live, where they’ve been and hope the future will take them.
( Permit this writer a point of personal privilege by injecting a heartfelt remembrance of the late Walter G. Cowan, my kindly and encouraging editor of the Crescent City’s afternoon newspaper, The States- Item. His exacting tutelage, the opportunity to work in one of the great “news towns” in America, and also to share the building with The Times- Picayune colleagues, are certainly among my career highlights.)
The realization that New Orleans will soon be the largest American city to date without a daily newspaper undoubtedly will give rise to more gloom- and- doom predictions about what might happen to every other weekly and daily publication in the country.
Well before our nation became immersed in the high- tech information age, politicos and pundits questioned the relevancy of the printed word in a fast- moving, modern- day society.
Erudite newspaper publishers, managers and staffs likewise question themselves every single day. Why? Because they want to stay connected to their readers, customers and subscribers. Their newspapers continue to survive, even thrive, because change, not complacency, is the watchword that guides them.
A community without a local newspaper is a forlorn place without a voice.
Radio stations do not gather the news, they read it to their listening audiences. Television stations devote several minutes to subjects a newspaper examines in depth through a detailed story, a series or special project.
Vigilant city/ county government beat writers provide an effective check- and- balance on elected officials, who know someone is watching what they say and do. Candidates are asked specific questions about their qualifications and positions in newspaper interviews. Election commissions use the printed press to present sample ballots and polling locations to the electorate.
Law enforcement agencies receive tips and cooperation from citizens who every day read a police or sheriff’s log, Most Wanted suspect profiles, descriptions of missing persons, traffic alerts, and a range of crime reports. Members of the judiciary use the newspaper to explain the jury system and the intricate workings of the court system.
Parents and grandparents make scrapbooks with news clippings about their honor students, athletes, band leaders, scholarship recipients, 4- H winners. Teachers receive much deserved recognition through newspaper features that spotlight their philosophies and approach to education. Schools pass millage increases, improve facilities and attract volunteers when their achievements – and struggles – are the focus of news or feature stories.
Nonprofit organizations keep their names and causes before local residents via newspaper articles and pictures. In- depth reports in the hometown newspaper help taxpayers understand critical issues; news and analysis pieces help garner support for community colleges, convention facilities, museums, arenas, infrastructure improvements, detention centers.
People speak their minds through a newspaper’s opinion section; large and small businesses promote their services and products through newspaper advertisements; births, graduations, weddings, anniversaries and deaths – the hallmark events of one’s life are found in the archives of a hometown daily.
The history and character of a city – from then to now – are revealed to the researcher and genealogist through stacks and stacks of newsprint. So, are newspapers irrelevant? Far from it.