| By David Lore, Licking County Pro-Active Citizens - Mar 3rd, 2009 at 11:40 am EST |
| Also listed in: Appalachian Populists | Interfaith Peace Coalition | Licking County Pro-Active Citizens (www.licopac.org) | Perry County Democratic Forum |
Amid the widespread carnage in the economy, the news of lay-offs at the Dispatch hardly causes a ripple.
http://blog.dispatch.com/blog-36/2009/03/it_wasnt_supposed_to_be_like_this.shtml
Except for those, of course, whose lives have been tied to the newspaper as a profession -- and an addiction.
The Dispatch was my first newspaper job out of the Army. Hummingbird and I in February 1965 had dropped baby Diane off with her grandmother in Findlay and set out across the Midwest to look for work. First stop was Columbus where we checked in at the former Christopher Inn on E. Broad St.
By the time we checked out the next day, I had interviewed with the city editor, Gene Jordan, and been offered a beginning reporter's job at $110 a week (Jordan initially offered $90 but I held out for the big bucks!).
Thirty-seven years later, in February 2002, I checked out of the Dispatch as well. It was a good run. As time went on, I got better at my job and so did the Dispatch. And despite riots and wars and recessions, I don't recall anybody ever getting laid off because of the economy. The story around the newsroom - which I don't really know if it was true - was that even during the Great Depression, the newspaper protected its staff.
Despite the current gloom and doom clouding the future of print journalism, the Dispatch as an independent in a relatively healthy market still has a lot going for it. These were not the newspaper's first layoffs, although they're the first impacting the editorial staff. Ahead will be more cost-cutting, redesigns and lean years in terms of pay and benefits. But hopefully the Big D will survive.
Everybody - including those who work there - gets off on criticizing their hometown newspaper. But what would we do without them? And that "we" includes the TV talking heads, the bloggers, the suburbans, the wires, all of whom depend on the print folks for actual information.
Who wants to live in a world where we save the banks, the brokers and hedge funds, but shut off our window on the world?
For a good look at what's happening with newspapers nationwide, check out this piece at the New Republic:
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=a4e2aafc-cc92-4e79-90d1-db3946a6d119&k=77891
Comments are closed for this post.
I share your love of newsprint and I think the Dispatch is a darn good paper of record. Although I've experienced the joy of the scoop a few times, the newspaper business is too much hard work for me.
(I tried freelancing for a community weekly for awhile, but realized I was actually losing money after paying for long distance calls, parking and babysitting.
Laid-off Dispatchers might look into writing for trade magazines. I once wrote an article about employee theft which I sold three times with minor modifications to trades in different markets.)
I'm afraid we Front Page fans are a minority. No one dare shout "Stop the presses!" for fear they won't start up again.
As an adult, I read the whole thing and became appalled when I could get online and find out most the "news" really wasn't...but was a propaganda machine used as a mouthpiece of the Ohio Republican party and then later, the Bush administration.
An Editor told me Karl Rove came into town to tell the Dispatch to "stop being so free with the news" After they endorsed Bush in 2004, that was the last straw. Myself and at least six other family members canceled their subscriptions. Collectively we are mostly Republican and Independents with over 100 years of subscriptions between us all. But we weren't going to pay to be lied to-THAT is the REAL reason why the Dispatch and many other papers are dying. In this case, the Wolf family is solely to blame for the ultimate demise of their newspaper. We are tired of their right wing, one sided view-enough is enough.
2. Stop pandering to your customers and feeding them way too much Brittney Spears and Paris Hilton crap. Tell the people what they need to hear and tell us why it's important.
3. Make people pay for your product. Beat reporting costs money and people should have to pay for it. At least, insert 30 second video ads on-line before each article can be viewed.
I'd consider subscribing again when the Dispatch loses it's right-wing slant. Newspaper beat reporting is essential to all other forms of media.