Blame it on those technology killers

The last twelve years of my newspaper career was spent as a publisher of a relatively small daily community newspaper in eastern Montana. 

The economy was fairly good for my time spent there.  It was from 1988 to 2000 and we had a full staff, advertising revenue was good and circulation of the newspaper was as good as could be expected.

I might even say we were in "fat city" compared to newspapers today. The stories being told about America's small and middle-sized newspapers are dramatically different.  In the last fifteen years, roughly 2,000 newspapers have disappeared in the country.  It can almost entirely be blamed on not enough advertising and circulation revenue to pay the bills.  Communities are losing their voice, their identity, and their finger on the pulse of what's happening in their corner of the world.

The reasons are obvious.  Our children are being programmed at a very young age to accept mainly what is available for them on a device that has an obnoxious screen.  Whether it is something to hold in their hand, hold on their lap, or set on a desk - it will give them everything they need to know.  The trouble is, it will also eagerly give them information that is false and misleading.  They are told that the information their parents received through reliable, time-honored newspapers is false, biased, and the product is the enemy of the people.  Some newspaper, some where, may deal in bias journalism, but every newspaper strives to get the facts right in their news stories.  It is an absolute creed of good journalism.  Readers still have the legal right to sue if they think the newspaper has deliberately and intentionally supplied false information.

Compare that to today's social media which has become a source of gossip and outright lies. It is used to win elections for some candidates and drive the last nail in the coffin of others.  Today's news junkies of electronic jibber-jabber must be the most confused readers/viewers on the planet.  How do they know what to believe? So, they take the path of least resistance and believe what they want to believe.

The community newspapers are left in the cold.  They are ready and able to give factual news, advertising, entertainment, and a chance for them and you to sound off on the opinion pages.  They are ready to give you everything, and they have been for more than two-hundred years here in America!

But we have a nation full of people who will only accept what comes up on those little screens.  We also have a world full of advertisers who will only buy space from where the readers of those screens are watching and reading. Eventually, newspaper circulation suffers. The price of a paper goes up to compensate for the loss of subscribers. When the price gets too high, the reader gives up, drops their subscription, and buys a new, faster, fancier device with a bigger screen.

And they still don't get the factual news they should be getting!

One newspaper started feeling the pinch and began serving their employees - after hours, of course - a morale-building "Bloody Mary Monday" to liven the otherwise down days in the week.  The publisher finally realized their week was needing a lot of "Bloody Mary Mondays."  After 121 years of publishing, they had to give it up.  Some of the subscribers wanted to know how they could help and so they sent text and voice messages to the publisher.

Yeah, on those little hand-held, newspaper-killing, gawd-awful device things!

My advice:  Buy a subscription to a newspaper near you and rejoin the real world!  I guarantee you, you'll be glad you did.