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I enjoy reading my local newspaper, but subscribership has fallen off around the country and newspapers are in decline. Per Northwestern University, "Over the past two decades, the U.S. newspaper industry has seen a dramatic decline, with nearly 40% of local newspapers vanishing and print circulation dropping by about 70% since 2005. This decline is attributed to factors such as decreasing subscriptions, advertising revenue and increased competition from digital media, and changing consumer habits." Is it time to reevaluate our habits?
Yes, "free" news content from distance digital streamers, podcasters or local social media groups saves money and still connects us, but without my local paper I feel I would miss some of the richness and depth of the community I live. I know to many this is old school, but vinyl records have made a comeback because people missed the analog richness and depth of the sound they captured.
I consume news and history from many sources, but I look forward to my local paper's next publication. Each article from city budget concerns, event happenings, local history, sports and natural resources connect me with my community. I read the newspaper front to back, but especially love reading citizens' letters to the editor, guest columnist and the paper's editorials. Local newspapers are grassroots town-squares, the community gathering centers and each letter to the editor reflects personal hopes, grievances or flaws in American's self-governance locally and nationally.
Pure-democracy flows from the people upward, shining light on individual struggles in pursuit of happiness. Local newspapers have been Democracy's secret ingredient, a place where I hear what my fellow community members are feeling, not just saying, similar to being at local concert and hearing a musician's fretting hand sliding to the next note. Yes, differing opinions infuriate us from time to time, but if we listen closely… we hear pure-democracy uncovering and shaping what our future can become, and our community's place in history.
Local newspapers across the country are our forgotten micro think-tanks helping America understand self-governance. They are vital threads in our nation's fabric, enabling everyday citizens to engage with democracy and their community's vitality, culture, history, and sense of belonging. I pray our elected representatives subscribe to pure-democracy at work, not just "Us vs. Them" partisan top-down national news sources beholden to billionaires.
I ran across following quote by American writer E.B. White, written during the middle of World War II's fight for democracy, "Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half the time. It is feeling of privacy in the voting booths, the feeling of communion in libraries, the feeling of vitality everywhere. Democracy is a letter to the editor ... Democracy is a request from a War Board, in the middle of a morning in the middle of a war, wanting to know what democracy is."
Local newspapers' vital subscriptions and advertising revenue allows a space for common people to ask what democracy is. The Washington Post's slogan is “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” I think local newspaper's slogan should be "Democracy's Beacon Shines Locally."
If my case for local newspapers strikes a cord, consider sharing it with friends who aren't subscribed to their local newspaper.