From the Editor’s Desk: Small town news is far from dead

“Local newspapers aren’t dying. They’re dead.”

These words came from a journalist and reporter with ties to one of the largest media conglomerates in the United States, and were prompted after that conglomerate announced that in one fell swoop, the conglomerate would be closing 19 newspapers in the Massachusetts area.

The words came as a result of what digital-focused news sites believe has been a death toll of local news - the world moves faster than ever these days, and that includes news.

But this journalist’s statement that local newspapers ‘are dead’ is not just wrong - it is very wrong.

Local newspapers are not dying.

And that statement, at its raw core, shows extreme disconnect and classism towards the small communities who rely on local newspapers for everything from event announcements to government watch-dog reporting.

If a local print newspaper dies…what fills the hole it has left?

A hole never stays long - the conglomerate that has bought up and then closed local print newspapers is not doing it to cast a blanket over the eyes of the Massachusetts communities, it is closing newspapers so the conglomerate can move all news reporting to an online, digital base.

For many communities, this would be fine.

But in rural areas - like Gadsden County - and low-income communities - like Gadsden County - a digital-only approach sets a dangerous precedent - do people who don’t have access to the internet not deserve news? Do people from lower-income communities, who may not be able to afford a monthly wifi bill, not deserve the same access to news as those from higher-income neighborhoods?

When news becomes digital only, it tells people that they can only access it if they have the privilege to be able to access it.

And that is something I stand staunchly against.

But even aside from that...I live in a rural community where the internet is sketchy at best and the majority of residents simply do not have access because internet service providers don’t offer packages that far out in the boondocks.

The internet that is available to me and my neighbors is either increasingly expensive, or has unreliable speeds that make dial-up look decent.

A digital-only approach would leave residents of my part of Gadsden County in the dark, not knowing what is happening in their community, unable to trust their internet to open website pages laden with images, moving ads, and pop-ups.

This worries me as a resident of a community that would suffer greatly if not for the presence of a local paper.

Then what of our senior citizen residents? Does a digital-only product best serve them?

Does a digital-only model show the value of our product to the upcoming generation?

The answer is no. It does not.

A digital-model may be practical in larger cities…but rural, small towns like ours still depend on their local news.

That is something this big newspaper conglomerate doesn’t seem to understand - especially considering it is closing small papers left and right with seemingly no regard for how this will truly impact the communities that depend on those papers.

To paraphrase the words of a fellow editor friend of mine, “Newspapers aren’t dying” - instead, it is big corporations that aim for projits instead of a value product that is killing them.

Ashley Hunter - Times Editor

From the Editor’s Desk: Small town news is far from dead

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From the Editor’s Desk: Small town news is far from dead

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Gadsden County Times Legals – 3/24

Obituary: Winton Oziel Whittle

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