Now is the time to support local journalism. We can do this by paying for newspapers, public broadcasting, and online news sources. I am a big believer in journalistic products like The Edge that you are reading now. They are accessible to everyone and you don’t have to pay if you don’t want to. In the case of the public radio station I run, we know that many people listen and don’t pay and that’s their right. I hear from many of you about how important a service WAMC provides. When I get nasty letters about what I or others have said, I sometimes take a moment to check whether the letter-writer is actually paying for what they are listening to.
The publishing of newspapers has gotten so costly that papers have had to raise subscription prices. As a result, they are losing paying customers. The more these papers cost, the fewer people will subscribe. The fewer people who subscribe, the less advertising revenue available to pay for the associated costs. It’s a vicious cycle.
There is, of course, a big difference between a not-for-profit radio station and a for-profit newspaper. Most papers are businesses where the bottom line is making money. My friend Rex Smith on the Media Project has reminded me many times that some newspapers are adopting a not-for-profit operating method. However, most newspapers are ruled by publishers who, no matter how much they deny it, are the owners of the papers. Taking a cue from public broadcasters, some newspapers have been suggesting that the public kick in money to help cover costs of running the paper. I certainly believe that if a newspaper wants to claim a not-for-profit status, they should be allowed to do so, but you really can’t have it both ways. Your owners can’t expect to make money while claiming to be not-for-profit.
In the case of WAMC, there is a clear separation between our news-gathering operation and the management of the station. There have certainly been times when I’ve disagreed with the approach of the news division, and I suppose that the separation we are talking about is one of the things that should give our listeners the confidence to support our operation. This seems like a good reason for those who are paying to support our radio station, to continue to do so.
The publishers of independent local papers have good reason to worry. Many of them are being bought up by huge media conglomerates, and a lot of those who have managed to remain independent are not making it. There are fewer of them. The ones that are continuing, however marginally, are clearly suffering. They are cutting back on the number of days they publish and that can cause great trouble. Journalists need to be paid. Health insurance and pensions are expensive. The fewer days that the papers publish, the less advertising they can sell.
In addition to membership support, businesses support public broadcasting via underwriting. Amazingly, in many places, underwriting is approaching a record high. I suspect that when given a choice between spending their dollars on newspapers or public radio, the swing is toward radio. Businesses and organizations understand that their dollars are being well spent when it comes to getting their message to the public via radio.
The continuation of local newspapers is so important. Much of the basic news that you hear on the radio or television comes from the hard work that newspaper reporters do. When newspapers fail, it will be for one of several reasons: because advertisers are deserting them, because fewer people are reading them, or because the people who own them are getting greedy. It really is too bad that newspapers just cost so much to print. It’s a sad state of affairs.
