Two newspaper vignettes caught my eye this past week. Both reflect the inexorable force that new technologies can have on markets and companies. The first was a small, dry, relatively innocuous article in the Star-Ledger which mentioned that, because of declining circulation, management will approach its various unions, seeking help.
The second was a three-column advisory by the editor of The Catholic Spirit, the newspaper of the Diocese of Metuchen. It explained that although the Courier News had been printing the official newspaper organ of the diocese since that newspaper’s inception in 1996, that the C-N was “shutting down its presses and moving its printing operation to the Asbury Park Press in Freehold.” (Both are owned by the parent company, Gannett.) Arrangements have already been made to have The Catholic Spirit printed elsewhere.
I love newspapers. I read as many as I can lay my hands on. I scour them; I vigorously mark up stories with comments; I clip articles of note and they accumulate, much to my spouse’s dismay. I never fail to pick up a copy of the local press when I travel, because, next to talking to the locals, it is the best and quickest way to get insight into a community.
But the Internet has been intruding for a long time, and it continues its slow, negative impact on the daily dissemination of printed news. The plethora of cable news channels is not helping any. The resultant decrease in circulation, of course, shows up directly in a newspaper's bottom line, forcing it to gradually cut back and to find economies in order to survive and, above all, to constantly seek innovative ways to address its audience.
You might think that this doesn’t affect you very much, but it does, and very directly. One of the casualties is a sharp drop-off in the consistent coverage of public meetings by reporters. You don’t get to fully know what’s really going on, as you once might have.
In the 1990’s, when I was on the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education, and before that, when I attended many board meetings and was an active participant on committees, the Courier News and the Star-Ledger employed dedicated reporters to show up and to extensively cover the meetings. When reporters called me, they knew what to ask. Brother! Did that keep me on my toes.
Today, newspapers simply can no longer afford widespread, physical coverage of public meetings. For economic reasons, this happens now only when there is a major issue at stake, something that editors are reasonably sure you will want to read about. Like for instance, the shenanigans of the Somerset County Park Commission, or a controversy affecting a school referendum.
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