From the editor:
I had an oddly sad feeling when I picked up my Lincoln Journal yesterday and saw that the only “pure Lincoln” story was a piece about the transfer station swap table that I wrote back in July 2012. This was a “tryout” story the editor had assigned me to see if I could be a freelancer for the paper, though it was never published and I more or less forgot about it. Obviously they still had it, and they apparently ran it at a time when this was their only available Lincoln story. (As an aside, I did end up writing several stories for the Lincoln Journal; they’re reposted chronologically here in the Lincoln Squirrel starting in October 2012.)
This is not a snarky attack on the Journal, which is in the same fix as thousands of other newspapers bedeviled by free Internet sites for news and advertising, as well as rising printing and distribution costs. Having worked for several small newspapers myself, I truly sympathize with what’s left of their staff in the wake of acquisitions and cutbacks. Sadly, this just shows that the product eventually suffers when you cut too much. The news business is still looking for a new business model that works for them and for readers, but trying to maintain the status quo isn’t working, though I have no knowledge about the situation at Lincoln Journal other than the fact that for some time now, they have not had a full-time editor or writer, but have had to share those resources with sister newspapers in the area.
I started the Lincoln Squirrel because I like doing local journalism and I thought Lincoln could use some additional coverage. I view myself as fortunate that I don’t depend on income from a newspaper or a website to pay my bills, and I feel downcast for the newspaper employees who are doing the best they can with insufficient resources and the readers who aren’t getting the coverage they need.
Any far-reaching suggestions on how to fix the news problem? Your comments are welcome. Meanwhile, here’s some more background and food for thought:
Hi Alice,
As a veteran of a small, community newspaper that tried hard to keep its readers informed, I share your consternation. It’s easy to forget that newspapers were hit by a triple whammy: the demise of classified advertising in favor of Craigslist.com; the weakening of display advertising; and the sharp drop in subscription base as information was available for free on the Web which lowered the “rate base” for the advertising that remained.
I have nothing new to offer but would point to:
– Voluntary subscriptions (something like the public radio or TV model), as The New Haven Independent at http://www.newhavenindependent.org is trying;
– Payments from internet service providers to content providers based on frequency of use (as suggested by James Fallows) would help; it’s also in the interest of these “aggregators” to have functioning newspapers.
One thing is for sure. It is hard to imagine a community functioning without shared, credible information about what is happening in that community.