Why local US newspapers are sounding the alarm
I started my career as a journalist at a small daily paper before moving into tech in the 1990s. As a young reporter - still in college - I got horrible assignments like having to attend local budget meetings, going down to the police station to copy the blotter, sitting in on school board meetings, updating the local calendar and reporting on the high school sports teams, among other tasks. This stuff was boring, tedious and rarely ever generated &quot;news&quot; of anything beyond an informational synopses of the goings on around town.<p>It didn&#x27;t matter - the paper was picked up and read daily by thousands of readers. Many read it cover to cover. It&#x27;s truly an important service to any community. In fact, I would go so far as to say that without a local newspaper an area isn&#x27;t a community at all. Newspapers traditionally bring people together and provide a sense of belonging and regional awareness and even pride.<p>This stuff isn&#x27;t sexy, nor particularly profitable, but it <i>has</i> to be done! Someone needs to keep track of these events, summarize and disseminate this information. Even the most boring, mundane happenings <i>need</i> to be recorded and publicized for well-functioning society. Without that effort, the things happening around us become opaque, and being informed relies literally on word of mouth.<p>Sadly, pretty much every effort to digitally replicate the services provided by local papers has failed to my knowledge. As a result, I know more about what&#x27;s happening in London than I do about my home city.<p>No idea what the solution is, and a lot of people much smarter than myself have tried for years. But what I do know is the long term consequences of small newspapers closing is a lot more dire than I think most people realize.