Local media will live, if it is nimble and humble enough. It won’t look like what it was...or maybe it will, just distilled to its essence. What it will not be is a path to fortune; hopefully sustainability will be enough.
Hi Ken, I live in Central NY-- outside Syracuse. Our local paper (we used to have two papers, one morning paper and one evening paper and a Sunday edition) is now one paper published about three times a week and Sundays as well as produces a daily online newsletter. I subscribe to it to support local news but it does seem inadequate. I truly feel that communities need more than just one newspaper as there should be more than one editorial point of view presented in the community. I feel it is even more imperative that Syracuse and the county we are located due to the fact that a major school of import and reputation at Syracuse University is the Newhouse School of Public Communications and another major school of import is the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. It is a sad situation that our public commentary in this county is so limited with such resources available.
In one way, you should consider yourself fortunate. Many smaller communities do not have any public commentary on the issues. We’ve seen it here in Glens Falls where the the newspaper rarely takes a stand on any issue anymore. Many other small newspapers are on the same boat because of reduced resources. It is like that in many parts of upstate. The Syracuse newspapers may only be in print three times a week but they continue to do serious and important journalism.
Can we talk about the protest at SUNY Albany for a second? Old media do not understand what is happening with these sorts of protests. The far right through organizations like TP USA (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turning_Point_USA) has created astroturf “clubs” on college campuses that lobby for lectures by extremists whose objective is not free expression but the end of liberal free exchange of ideas. Without the interjection of $$ by libertarian extremist billionaires there wouldn’t be “clubs” lobbying for literal fascists and white nationalists, people like Richard Spenser, to come speak at universities. Ian Haworth is not a principled conservative in the vein of David Brooks and his free speech is not being curtailed in any meaningful sense. He is a podcaster, writer, regular contributor to Fox FakeNews. He is exactly the sort of speaker Harlan Crow, collector of Nazi memorabilia, might fund.
Local papers provide more than just the news... and I wonder ...
If you wanted to know what is going on in Saranac Lake... you have to search.
To put it in a better perspective.. I went for a walk and saw a couple posters of events in town.
There used to be a local radio station in town, now it is a satellite. The local newspaper would have info on this and a story. Now that is hit or miss.
Also, their staff is down... and many of the stories they have now are done by people who don't work for the paper --- that is either press releases or articles from other sources (a NCPR reporter converted her radio article into a newspaper article)
Local newspapers were:
• entertainment
• they were advertisements (not just political ads)
• Birth announcements
And they were history --- this might be the biggest loss.
In 20 years when there are no local movies and people want to research why.. the lack of articles will not help
----
I suspect as there are smaller staffs and less pages in newspapers.. the advertising staff is still about as big as it was 30 years ago
I suppose some of these columns are part of the conversation. I’m still learning what some of the new efforts look like, so I think this is a work in progress. Reminding people that good journlism is expensive is a start. If they can pay $200 a month for a cable bill, they can certainly pay $200 a year for a news subscription. I’m hoping this alerts people to the problem and we can talk about solutions.
When any media reports on a story, and another media uses that in their reporting (i.e.: "As reported in the Post Star") The original source gets royalties.
edit: it used to be if a newspaper reported a story (scooped), the other media put their reporters to work to investigate. Now they just use the other reporting for free.
I’m just trying to address “I can’t afford it argument.” If people pay a lot for cable and their phone and Wi-Fi plans then they probably have the money to afford multiple subscriptions to news out lets. If the product has value you should want to pay, but there are still many who want it for pennies or for free. So I see that as part of the problem as well.
Post Star $10.99 a month = one news paper, horrible coverage of small towns not called glens falls
Adiorndack Daily Enterprise $19.50 = one newspaper fair coverage of all the three towns with lake (saranac, placid and tupper)
Those are actual prices from their web page
through Spectrum I can get a tv package for $59.99 = a real (not made up) price that gets me 125 channels
Not an introduction price, but the price.
• yes cable internet/wifi is extra... but most people have some form of internet
• I can not afford all of the above (I have no tv, or newspaper subscriptions)
• I do watch what I can from the internet and once a week read the local paper at the library (It is also how I read one of your books, and the Jan 6 Committee Report -- that you suggested).
I don't mean this to be snarky... telling people they can afford newspapers, is not a solution. Some people can not afford the newspaper (many feel they don't have time to read it).
I will say some of the problem here is trump and #pos_tefanik who have villainized media and especially local media. stiffy routinely attacks NPR, because they call out her lies
I listen to NCPR from time to time, and check their web page daily.
I read books... I am fairly well-informed. Telling me (or anyone) to buy a newspaper because they pay a lot for cable is not a solution.
=======
it is a big problem, I don't expect you to solve it, I am only asking you to consider trying to solve it and not continue to point out the problem --- which many of your readers are aware of.
<b>”Listening and understanding to others is a skill, but it is a skill that can be taught,”Hance said.</b>
That’s the reason I follow The Bulwark. I appreciate that people further to the right than I am are going to tell me when Dems are going off the rails. E.J. Dionne or Eugene Robinson or any liberal commentator isn’t as apt to tell me that.
It takes as many voices as possible to push the MAGA extremists into the dustbin of history, in any case.
There's always been a certain snobbery daily newspaper people have had toward weeklies, but ultimately, daily newspaper people have just worked for national corporations, for the most part, while the weeklies have been largely independently owned. Even at their peak, the dailies did cherry pick the best stories from the smaller communities, while the weeklies tried to cover everything hyperlocal. Today, the weeklies, while also struggling, can be more nimble, while the dailies are still tied to the corporations. I'd simply suggest more people work to revive local weekly papers, as their business models are less complicated and more practical than the daily newspaper business models.
There is probably some truth to that. Weeklies were often starting positions for reporters who were then poached by the dailies. Kind of the nature of the beast. The larger papers sort of looked down on the smaller dailies too. Still do.
Ken: Kudos to THE SUN (HQ in Elizabethtown, Essex County) our local weekly. Print edition arrives to local postal subscribers on Fri or Sat. It has different deadlines for the print issue and the digital headlines, sent by email about 6pm all 7 days. The competition is the legacy print paper Press-Republican, out of Plattsburgh but now distant-corporate-owned. Occasionally there is space for their area wire-service articles. There are few carriers and ever fewer subscribers to the print version. The only $ubscription available is the whole package: print+digital-access. They publish print Tues thru Fri and the weekend edition. Space is filled with paid legals and national/world wire -service articles. It does a good job on local items hs/college sports and community promotion, but cannot provide in-depth coverage due to less personnel, now office-based and doing remote work. Occasionally, the editorial board DOES really take a stand on local issues. We do still have a local radio station, rescued by a consortium of local investors. TV5 (NBC) has a legacy footprint (sales/marketing) on this side of Lake Champlain, but full-time on-air staff work out of Burlington VT ... where the money is and where The Simpsons live (Springfield) --- Times Up! Stay tuned, children, for another exciting episode of "Life in Ruritania-North" --- G-d Willing and the power don't fail.
Local media will live, if it is nimble and humble enough. It won’t look like what it was...or maybe it will, just distilled to its essence. What it will not be is a path to fortune; hopefully sustainability will be enough.
Hope you are right.
Me too!
Hi Ken, I live in Central NY-- outside Syracuse. Our local paper (we used to have two papers, one morning paper and one evening paper and a Sunday edition) is now one paper published about three times a week and Sundays as well as produces a daily online newsletter. I subscribe to it to support local news but it does seem inadequate. I truly feel that communities need more than just one newspaper as there should be more than one editorial point of view presented in the community. I feel it is even more imperative that Syracuse and the county we are located due to the fact that a major school of import and reputation at Syracuse University is the Newhouse School of Public Communications and another major school of import is the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. It is a sad situation that our public commentary in this county is so limited with such resources available.
In one way, you should consider yourself fortunate. Many smaller communities do not have any public commentary on the issues. We’ve seen it here in Glens Falls where the the newspaper rarely takes a stand on any issue anymore. Many other small newspapers are on the same boat because of reduced resources. It is like that in many parts of upstate. The Syracuse newspapers may only be in print three times a week but they continue to do serious and important journalism.
Can we talk about the protest at SUNY Albany for a second? Old media do not understand what is happening with these sorts of protests. The far right through organizations like TP USA (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turning_Point_USA) has created astroturf “clubs” on college campuses that lobby for lectures by extremists whose objective is not free expression but the end of liberal free exchange of ideas. Without the interjection of $$ by libertarian extremist billionaires there wouldn’t be “clubs” lobbying for literal fascists and white nationalists, people like Richard Spenser, to come speak at universities. Ian Haworth is not a principled conservative in the vein of David Brooks and his free speech is not being curtailed in any meaningful sense. He is a podcaster, writer, regular contributor to Fox FakeNews. He is exactly the sort of speaker Harlan Crow, collector of Nazi memorabilia, might fund.
quite disgusting what we have become
or what we have allowed to happen
---
Though I would say the most important thing about your post was:
" $$ "
which driven by evil and greed has destroyed reality
"Leader Charlie Kirk"*
in the war on facts - kkkirkkk is winning on the lack of facts
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turning_Point_USA#Leadership_and_associates
Local papers provide more than just the news... and I wonder ...
If you wanted to know what is going on in Saranac Lake... you have to search.
To put it in a better perspective.. I went for a walk and saw a couple posters of events in town.
There used to be a local radio station in town, now it is a satellite. The local newspaper would have info on this and a story. Now that is hit or miss.
Also, their staff is down... and many of the stories they have now are done by people who don't work for the paper --- that is either press releases or articles from other sources (a NCPR reporter converted her radio article into a newspaper article)
Local newspapers were:
• entertainment
• they were advertisements (not just political ads)
• Birth announcements
And they were history --- this might be the biggest loss.
In 20 years when there are no local movies and people want to research why.. the lack of articles will not help
----
I suspect as there are smaller staffs and less pages in newspapers.. the advertising staff is still about as big as it was 30 years ago
Mr. Tingley:
I have a request
One more article about the need for local newspapers (daily or weekly) will call attention to the problem, but it will not do much for solutions.
What are the solutions?
I suppose some of these columns are part of the conversation. I’m still learning what some of the new efforts look like, so I think this is a work in progress. Reminding people that good journlism is expensive is a start. If they can pay $200 a month for a cable bill, they can certainly pay $200 a year for a news subscription. I’m hoping this alerts people to the problem and we can talk about solutions.
Again, how much people pay for cable is not a solution.
Not trying to be annoying... but acknowledging a problem is only the beginning... and you have done a great job pointing out the problem.
Maybe make an appeal to your readers and to your live audience.... then to post those in a column and an attempt to move forward.
I am with you, I do NOT want to see the end of newspapers.
A solution idea: No free rides.
When any media reports on a story, and another media uses that in their reporting (i.e.: "As reported in the Post Star") The original source gets royalties.
edit: it used to be if a newspaper reported a story (scooped), the other media put their reporters to work to investigate. Now they just use the other reporting for free.
I’m just trying to address “I can’t afford it argument.” If people pay a lot for cable and their phone and Wi-Fi plans then they probably have the money to afford multiple subscriptions to news out lets. If the product has value you should want to pay, but there are still many who want it for pennies or for free. So I see that as part of the problem as well.
Post Star $10.99 a month = one news paper, horrible coverage of small towns not called glens falls
Adiorndack Daily Enterprise $19.50 = one newspaper fair coverage of all the three towns with lake (saranac, placid and tupper)
Those are actual prices from their web page
through Spectrum I can get a tv package for $59.99 = a real (not made up) price that gets me 125 channels
Not an introduction price, but the price.
• yes cable internet/wifi is extra... but most people have some form of internet
• I can not afford all of the above (I have no tv, or newspaper subscriptions)
• I do watch what I can from the internet and once a week read the local paper at the library (It is also how I read one of your books, and the Jan 6 Committee Report -- that you suggested).
I don't mean this to be snarky... telling people they can afford newspapers, is not a solution. Some people can not afford the newspaper (many feel they don't have time to read it).
I will say some of the problem here is trump and #pos_tefanik who have villainized media and especially local media. stiffy routinely attacks NPR, because they call out her lies
I listen to NCPR from time to time, and check their web page daily.
I read books... I am fairly well-informed. Telling me (or anyone) to buy a newspaper because they pay a lot for cable is not a solution.
=======
it is a big problem, I don't expect you to solve it, I am only asking you to consider trying to solve it and not continue to point out the problem --- which many of your readers are aware of.
Agree. People will always avoid paying for stuff if they don’t have to. No public information campaign can guilt people into paying for newspapers.
<b>”Listening and understanding to others is a skill, but it is a skill that can be taught,”Hance said.</b>
That’s the reason I follow The Bulwark. I appreciate that people further to the right than I am are going to tell me when Dems are going off the rails. E.J. Dionne or Eugene Robinson or any liberal commentator isn’t as apt to tell me that.
It takes as many voices as possible to push the MAGA extremists into the dustbin of history, in any case.
There's always been a certain snobbery daily newspaper people have had toward weeklies, but ultimately, daily newspaper people have just worked for national corporations, for the most part, while the weeklies have been largely independently owned. Even at their peak, the dailies did cherry pick the best stories from the smaller communities, while the weeklies tried to cover everything hyperlocal. Today, the weeklies, while also struggling, can be more nimble, while the dailies are still tied to the corporations. I'd simply suggest more people work to revive local weekly papers, as their business models are less complicated and more practical than the daily newspaper business models.
There is probably some truth to that. Weeklies were often starting positions for reporters who were then poached by the dailies. Kind of the nature of the beast. The larger papers sort of looked down on the smaller dailies too. Still do.
"Ian Haworth, a writer and podcast host had been invited to the college by a conservative student group"
in otherwords.. a q-publican club invited a controversial speaker to generate controversy.
the same club will invite nazi's
Ken: Kudos to THE SUN (HQ in Elizabethtown, Essex County) our local weekly. Print edition arrives to local postal subscribers on Fri or Sat. It has different deadlines for the print issue and the digital headlines, sent by email about 6pm all 7 days. The competition is the legacy print paper Press-Republican, out of Plattsburgh but now distant-corporate-owned. Occasionally there is space for their area wire-service articles. There are few carriers and ever fewer subscribers to the print version. The only $ubscription available is the whole package: print+digital-access. They publish print Tues thru Fri and the weekend edition. Space is filled with paid legals and national/world wire -service articles. It does a good job on local items hs/college sports and community promotion, but cannot provide in-depth coverage due to less personnel, now office-based and doing remote work. Occasionally, the editorial board DOES really take a stand on local issues. We do still have a local radio station, rescued by a consortium of local investors. TV5 (NBC) has a legacy footprint (sales/marketing) on this side of Lake Champlain, but full-time on-air staff work out of Burlington VT ... where the money is and where The Simpsons live (Springfield) --- Times Up! Stay tuned, children, for another exciting episode of "Life in Ruritania-North" --- G-d Willing and the power don't fail.
So, so sad!
Thank you for fixing the typo in my company’s name. FoothillsBusinessDaily.com. -Steve Thurston