The "News Desert" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Doing one of favorite things during the day...reading my morning newspaper. In Lancaster County, Pennsylvania we have been lucky enough to have had a local newspaper since June 17, 1796 when the first issue of the Intelligencer was published.  

Part of Page 1 from the June 17, 1796 "The Lancaster Journal"

That first issue had stories in it such as: Poet's Corner with a poem titled "Death of a Friend"; a story telling the cost of a year's subscription was to be $2.00; 699 acres of Lands on the South Branch for sale; Deaths in Lancaster; Story on Foreign Intelligence; Drugs and Patent Medicines; Story about Watches and Jewelry; and William P. Atlee, coppersmith and tin worker.  The four-page newspaper is in the Archives of the Lancaster Newspaper.  The original copy has been copied and digitized and thought it is a bit weathered, is still in remarkable shape for a piece of paper that is almost 225 years old.  Since I pay for home delivery of the LNP, I also have access to the online newspaper.  While vacationing away from Lancaster, I can still enjoy the daily news of my home town.  I truly don't know what I would do if I couldn't read my morning newspaper every day.  Steinman Communications in Lancaster publishes more than the LNP LancasterOnline.  It also publishes The Caucus, The Ephrata Review, Lancaster Farming, Lancaster Farming Locator, La Voz and The Lititz Record Express.  I know that it may be unusual to live in an area where I can buy anyone of those newspaper, since that may be rather rare for most areas of the United States.  Most cities in the country had a local newspaper to read; most on a daily basis.  But then along came December of 1974.  That was the date that the Internet happened.  As recent as 1992 the total circulation of U.S. daily newspapers topped 60 million.  But, by 2018, despite 25 years of population growth, newspaper circulation had fallen to less than half that number.  How sad!  I know...many read online versions of local newspapers as well as perhaps the New York Times, Wall Street Journal or Washington Post.  But, local newspapers are really in trouble financially.  An online ad costs less than its print edition which has led to the decline of many print edition newspapers.  And, without a print edition, many newspapers are closing.  It has all led to a depressing new term, "News Desert."  Of the 3,143 counties in the United States, more than 2,000 have no daily newspaper.  For some, that is no big deal.  But, news deserts create a civic danger, since information vacuums diminish the pubic's ability to hold elected officials and business leaders accountable.  Yeah, you can go online, but most sites are either conservative or liberal, just as news on television is presented. Seems that  everybody online or on television has a megaphone to yell their news to you.   Fox News tells it one way while MSNBC tells it another way.  Each sounds totally different, even though it is the same news.  Too many people "know" too many things that simply aren't true.  Everyone on TV or Online has a megaphone, and nobody has a clue.  And, it is drawing our country further and further apart!  We need to begin to once again get the news from something that folds rather than scrolls.  We need to get back to reading the newspaper.  Yeah they aren't perfect either, but they don't argue with you such as those telling the news on TV.  There aren't constant updates that lead you astray from the important items in our world.  A newspaper can only  update the news the next day!  It better be right due to that fact!  The newspaper is therefore a more rational way to consume the news.  There is no "share" button and "comment" thread to hit and type away to express your view.  You actually have to read and reason what you have just read which was written by hopefully responsible writers with no personal option to share with the world.  Those reporters are assigned to the "Opinion" or "Editorial" page of the paper.  Yeah, sometimes you get a rather biased reporter, but they don't last long in print.  It is now time to rediscover the local newspaper before it is too late to revive the publishing industry and our own social sanity.  We need more that TV chaos to bring our country back together once again, and I believe the newspaper can do that.  I hope you do, also!  Go buy a local newspaper and help save the world!   It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Postscript:  What you have just read was my version of an article I read on the "Opinion" page of The Centre County Gazette, the local newspaper of State College, Pennsylvania.  My friend Sue, who lives in State College, sent me the newspaper story and said I may want to give my two cents about the content of the article. So, I've actually given you my dime's worth!  The original story was written by Gina Barreca of "The Hartford Courant." Thank you Gina for an enlightening article.