I recently saw a news report that stated over 70 million or 25 percent of people in the U.S. now live in a what is referred to as a news desert, meaning they no longer have a newspaper or any credible news coverage of their community.
According to a recent study conducted by Northwestern University, we are losing approximately two newspapers a week!
To give some perspective on this issue, since 2019, 360 newspapers have shut down. All but 24 of them were weeklies serving small communities.
Newspapers serve a vital role especially in small communities. Without them people in remote areas might not know what is going on in the world around them, and that can also lead to the spread of disinformation or “fake news.”
In contrast, your local newspaper offers things you can’t find anywhere else — including impactful journalism and real reporting on stories that effect YOU personally.
They also contain content that empowers, enlightens, and uncovers stories of interest to the local communities they serve.
Much like your hometown newspaper The Contributor covers a wide range of topics often bringing to light issues of interest to ALL from a vantage point rarely explored and often ignored in our society.
So what’s behind the continuing decline of newspapers today? A couple of key factors have made matters worse.
First, television. Why put forth the effort to actually read a paper when you can just watch the news as it develops in real time. Secondly, we live in the internet/digital era where you can get your news on the device of your choice at the time and place you choose, which can be far more convenient than a traditional newspaper.
Many newspapers (including The Contributor) now offer both print and digital editions.
There are advantages to this format, most notably it is cost effective. (Newsflash: it is EXPENSIVE to produce a newspaper!)
Also, access to the internet is readily available in most areas, but NOT in many of the rural places most affected by these fast growing news deserts.
For me personally, there is a more tactile tangible quality to a print newspaper. Seeing it in print somehow makes it more real to me.
I eagerly flip through its pages to see what’s up next, or to find “the rest of the story.”
(Ok so I could do without the ink getting all over my hands from handling them so much, but it’s worth it.)
Here’s the bottom line: if you enjoy the newspaper and want to see it continue here’s what you need to do:
- Buy the Paper
- Take the Paper
- Read the Paper
- Share the Paper
Now I know many of you encourage vendors to keep the paper and resell it, and while that may help a vendor financially in the moment, keep in mind, that doesn’t boost their sales or help them meet/increase sales goals and without sales The Contributor could be like SO many newspapers in our modern age SOLD OUT as in OUT OF PRINT and that would be sad because it does SO much to help SO many in our community.