Wednesday, August 22, 2007

No Matter How You Paint It, There Must Be Substance

It has been about a month since my last column appeared in our local paper. The editor and the publisher continue to print columns about how they want the input of the readers about the numerous changes they have made in the past few months. Thursday's edition is supposed to be the "Brand New" Journal-Standard, but the 6 or 7 or 8 dozen people that have approached me about their displeasure that my column was eliminated, almost every person has stated how discouraged they are with the changes that have been made. "The newsprint is to thin or faint to read," "there is hardly any local news," "what are they thinking?" are just a few of the comments that I have been hearing. The main reason that people cite for keeping their subscription is to read the obituaries.

How ironic that the current state of the printed edition of the newspaper is one that has to do with death. A column in the current edition of Slate discusses this fact. When I started reading the column, I had a weird sense that I was reading about myself. While I no longer subscribe to any print editions of local or regional papers, I do still purchase the Sunday Tribune when it is available. Lately, it has been selling out faster than usual, perhaps due to the decreased amount of current news in the local paper.

So, how does a newspaper rectify their dwindling sales and readership? I don't profess to have the answers to this, but the first thing they have to consider is an increase in the quality of the writing. The second thing is to be more regional in their approach. Newsmagazines and magazines in general have blossomed through this approach by finding niches and serving their readership. Newspapers are still trying to be all things to all people, but the competition from the internet, 24 cable news services, news radio, and instant news sent to one's cell phones or blackberries allow us to maintain an instant stream of current news information.

To that end, it appears that the local paper has been moving away from quality in an attempt to gain more advertising, use more space for photos without substantive content, and to serve as a training ground for neophytes in the newspaper industry. There are good writers that continue to produce good work, but then what I hear frequently is that there are people that have no history in our neck of the woods, that are trying to share insights about the people and politics of the area.

Many of us were "outsiders" at one time or another in Freeport and the surrounding areas. Some of us earned our stripes by being out in the public and serving the community or building up our businesses. None of the three primary columnists that wrote for the paper for more than 8 or 9 years was originally from here, but we became ingrained in the community and chose to be here with our families. I guess one could say that we paid our local dues by giving back to the community and becoming a part of it. That is no longer the case, as I was cut from the paper (along with Sara Tortomasi) and the two "legends" who remain have seen their column space decreased or altered in some way.

Change is inevitable, but change just for the sake of change is often counterproductive. If one wants to keep the paper viable, the quality has to be there, the local perspective must remain, and the change can't be so drastic that people either lose interest, are overwhelmed, or just plain turned off.