Yeah, we complain about everything.
I believe complaining helps keep us sane. Really, it’s my belief.
Consider all of the moving pieces of producing a newspaper. If you had to, you couldn’t count the number of tasks and sub-tasks associated with newspaper production. I mean, I have tried in a previous life to diagram various production related processes, and honestly, there are just too many left turns and right hooks to take into account.
Each department has its own workflows and its own processes – and they’re not standardized across the industry. Newspapers, even within the same chain, do things differently and call the same tasks by many different names.
And that’s what makes the American newspaper special. It’s unique to the community.
I read on a local newspaper’s Web site how the community bemoaned the loss, well, lay off, of an incredibly popular TV journalist. This was a guy who not only covered community events, but actually participated in them.
While his job was "eliminated," his involvement with the community was not. He was lamenting about losing touch with the community and that made me think.
Have newspapers lost touch with the communities they serve?
Back in the day, people counted on their newspaper to deliver news and content. With the advent of TV, people said the newsprint world was dead. It wasn’t.
With the rise of the Internet, newsprint is surely dead.
Well, no, it’s not.
But it is bruised.
You see, with the rise of the Internet and mobile devices connected to that sprawling beast we here at readapaper.com live on, consumers, er, ah, um, readers, can get national and international news from a thousand sources in a few seconds.
Wanna know what’s going on in East Africa?
There’s an app for that.
Wanna know the stock tables in Ghana? There’s probably an app for that, too.
But, if you wanna know who voted against funding the local library in Yachats, Ore., you’re probably only going to find it in The Siuslaw News (www.thesiuslawnews.com).
And that’s the beauty of a local newspaper. Local news. Sure, it may have happened yesterday, but what happened around town was reported.
I say was reported because one of the things everyone whines about is the decreasing amount of space for news.
Called the newshole, this is an expensive commodity. Devoid of advertising, this is pure expense to a newspaper, but it is the single reason a lot of people buy a newspaper.
I’m not getting into the debate on which is more important, news or advertising, but suffice it say that newshole is expense.
So, most publishers have cut the local news budget to shreds. There is precious little local news in most metros anymore and smaller markets are fairing only a little better.
And, in cutting the local news, newspapers are cutting their own wrists.
I’m a parent and if my kid was in the local little league, I’d sure wanna see their name in print. But, again, local sports coverage has been slashed. A sports editor I know complains all the time about having no space to tell a story. Local editors complain of no space. Wire editors complain of no space. Ad executives complain that there’s no news to draw advertisers. Page designers complain of impossible ad stacks. Ad builders complain they’re losing their jobs.
Yep, see, we all do complain.
But, ultimately, some publisher is going to stand up and be like Jack Nicholson in "A Few Good Men."
They’re going to stand on the wall, and proclaim that the newspaper, yes the NEWSPAPER is more important than profits and restore the newshole.
Profits may sink, and Corporate will complain about that, but then the readers may complain about having too thick a newspaper. But, trust me, someone, somewhere will stand up and make a point.
And when they do, let’s cheer them on. For a minute.
And then, let’s complain about something else.
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