This is the weekend edition of TheMarioBlog and will be updated as needed. The next blog post is Monday, January 20.
Local news is invaluable. It is not just in politics that everything is local. While we are bombarded by more news than we can possibly handle about a variety of subjects, in the end, we all will consider essential that news which is about our community: school board meetings, traffic and crime in our area, the type of across the fence chatter that should no go unnoticed—not to mention coverage of Little League games and dance recitals!
This is why I have been so interested in two items published recently that highlight the lengths at which some communities—and people—will go to preserve local news coverage.
The library as local news depot
Newspapers have always been a part of the offerings at a local library. However, with many very small and local and rural newspapers closing, the libraries are assuming a new role, as per this piece.
Dave Beard, formerly of the Washington Post and Public Radio International, has been following this trend for years. And he has highlighted a number of these projects from the Black Hills of South Dakota to New Hampshire to San Antonio, Texas,
This is what he found out:
- In South Dakota, 13 libraries came together to support a news site for communities that had lost several weekly newspapers. It’s not a daily news service, but they cover the same issues that many rural weekly newspapers do.
- In New Hampshire, Dave covered the story of Mike Sullivan, a librarian in the town of Weare who stepped up to write a four-page weekly newspaper. It’s filled with reports about local club meetings, the town’s Christmas party, graduations, new businesses and other run-of-the-mill community events. Whilst it’s not hard-hitting accountability journalism, it is the glue that holds communities together.
- In San Antonio, Dave looked at a local project at the library, NowCastSA. College interns film meetings and other local events. Contributors map local resources, and they publish stories written locally and also from the Texas Tribune, the major non-profit news organisation in the state.
These are all admirable endeavors which I am sure are much appreciated by the citizens of those communities. Nothing substitutes the heart and soul of a real newspaper, but these libraries and their teams are making sure that the local news continues to flow.
However, sometimes it is an individual who makes a difference.
Forget the trip, he is going to become a local publisher
This article got me a the get go:
Carl Butz, a 71-year-old retiree in San Francisco area, canceled an around-the-world trip to save California’s oldest weekly newspaper, which was set to shut down when its editor retires this month. Carl is taking over the Mountain Messenger, which is based out of his hometown of Downieville and covers two rural counties northeast of Sacramento.
“I’ve been a widower for three years and this is a new chapter in my life,” Butz, who lives in an off-the-grid cabin, told SFGate. “What am I going to do? Go on another trip around the world? Instead, I’m doing something good for the community, and I feel good about it.”
We can guarantee Carl that this new journey will be as exciting as what he may have seen on that trip he canceled.
And more people will be thanking him for it.
Of related interest: local news
Start the year with The Story
A good read to start the year 2020: The full trilogy of The Story now available–3 books to guide you through a mobile first strategy. Whether you’re a reporter, editor, designer, publisher, corporate communicator, The Story is for you! https://amazon
Mario’s speaking engagements
March 13, 2020
Keynote presentation at the National Media College Association Spring Convention, New York City, NY
March 27, 2020
Keynote
New York Press Association (NYPA), Saratoga Springs, NY.
TheMarioBlog post # 3188