Filling the void by giving context to news
Students don’t seem to have much interest in current events
By Ken Tingley
Two years ago, I started writing this newsletter, The Front Page, without a clear purpose, other than wanting to write.
I’ve also written two books in that time and I believed the newsletter would be a good way to market the books and keep my writing brand in the public eye after three decades working at The Post-Star in Glens Falls, N.Y.
But writers need an audience and finding my readers again has been a pleasant surprise. Some ready you when I worked at the newspaper while others are new to my work.
“I like you column,” one reader told me last week, “but I don’t always agree with you.” That’s fine.
That’s part of the conversation we need to have as a community.
The audience has doubled since the first year and seems to be picking up steam as I speak to community groups. Many did not know I was was still writing.
As I toured the region over the past two years, I have discovered a great love for the newspaper and the work we did. But I also discovered there is a void because there are so few columns and editorials in the newspaper.
That gave me a new mission: To fill that void.
I’ve settled on a model of three columns per week which is more than I ever wrote as editor of the newspaper. There is no shortage of material and between the column and my other projects I am staying busy.
The columns are a lot like what I wrote at The Post-Star. I like to tell the stories of regular people, hold local leaders accountable while giving context to local and national issues.
I write about what interests me.
So many people have said they do not want opinion or commentary in their newspapers and owners have pulled back because they don’t want to lose business. The community is poorer for it.
Newspaper columnists tell the stories of the people in the community, the challenges they face, their triumphs and tragedies. It is part of the history of any community.
Don Metivier started that years ago in The Post-Star and I’d like to think I continued that tradition.
That became clear to me after I published “The Last American Editor.” This collection of 83 columns told the stories of everyday people, of events and the issues that our community faced over two decades.
I’m honored those stories have now been preserved for posterity.
What I’ve heard from readers is they miss those stories.
What I’ve heard is they want more journalism and coverage of controversial issues and they don’t know how to get it.
I recently got Will Doolittle to join me in writing a column to help fill some of that void.
From humble beginnings two years ago, The Front Page newsletter has picked up steam and subscriptions along the way. If you are not familiar with the Substack platform the purpose is to give writers a way to publish their work and get paid for it. It gives them control over the writing and a way to make a living.
The Front Page remains free, but that could change in the future.
Part of the mission of the Substack platform is to teach readers that good writing, commentary, journalism has a value and if you value that, you will pay for it.
You are seeing that in all forms of media these days as readers are asked to subsidize the journalism that was once paid for by big retail advertisers. Those advertisers have largely gone away.
I did not learn about a 56 percent increase in my town of Queensbury taxes this year until after the budget was passed.
No one had covered the town meetings.
No one sounded the alarm so the taxpayers were not able to object to their elected representatives.
So our taxes went up.
That’s what happens when you don’t have comprehensive journalism.
Over the past two years, I have written 347 columns. I plan on continuing that. I ask you to do one thing over the next few weeks. Share this newsletter with one or two friends. If you think it has value, tell them to subscribe as well.
RPI class
WAMC host Joe Donahue asked me to speak to his journalism class at RPI on Monday. The class is one of those mandatory electives that all students have to take so you have students who are engineering majors more often than liberal arts students.
I did my usual presentation about the stories we covered over the years in Glens Falls and the difference they made.
The class was a good audience.
But none of them read newspapers growing up.
None of them subscribed to any digital news sites now.
They did not seem to have much interest in the current events of the day, but it is hard to judge over just a couple hours.
I urged them to be better citizens in the future by paying attention to current events.
I’m hoping they got the message.
After listening to you speak at the Moreau Community Center I realized how important local papers are. You comments ring very true with me. When Saratoga Biochar was moving through the Planning Board process almost no-one know about it. It it took a long time to let people know what was happening. When the papers started running articles the word really spread. We still struggle to let other communities in the greater Glans Falls area know that Saratoga Biochar will affect way more than Moreau. I stopped reading the papers during all the stress of COVID. I will never stop again. Thank you!
I’m not very computer literate re those things but I will try. The Post Star has caved a little more to the right lately I think. But I hope it stays.