David Horsey’s op ed News deserts spread across Washington | The Seattle Times
Journalists are fond of quoting Thomas Jefferson’s observation that “were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” Less noted are the many highly critical comments Jefferson made about the highly partisan press of his era, including, “As for what is not true, you will always find abundance in the newspapers.”
He loathed the newspapers that plagued him, but nevertheless, America’s third president never reneged on his contention that newspapers, at their best, were even more important to society than government. Disturbingly, we are now testing whether democracy can survive the arrangement that was less appealing to Jefferson – government without newspapers.
News deserts are spreading across the country and our state has not escaped the drying up of news sources. A new study produced by the League of Women Voters of Washington outlines how newspapers in every part of the state are going out of business or are being gutted by distant corporate owners.
Over the last two decades, of the 140 newspapers that were once operating in Washington, two dozen weeklies and three dailies have stopped publication and newsroom staffing is collectively down by 67%. The problem is especially dire in more rural counties where, in many instances, there is just one weekly newspaper still struggling to survive.
Even worse, many of the remaining newspapers are virtual ghosts. Rather than being owned by a local publisher, distant owners with no real interest in the community bleed the newspaper dry by sucking away revenue while leaving the publication with inadequate resources and a few underpaid, overworked reporters and editors. This is the case, not just in small towns, but in bigger cities, too. The News Tribune in Tacoma was once a major media player in the state. Now, the number of employees has been reduced from 120 people to little more than two dozen since Tacoma’s major source of local information was taken over by a hedge fund a few years ago.
What happens when a newspaper disappears or fades into a hollow shell? The Legislature, city hall, school boards, planning commissions and other governing entities are free to operate with little scrutiny and citizens are left in the dark. The knowledge of shared interests and concerns grows feeble, and communities grow less connected. Corruption thrives, ignorance increases, and rumors replace facts.
Jefferson would be appalled.
the accompanying cartoon to Horsey’s op ed
historians will note these times as the “era of facebook, twitter, disinformation and social unrest”
late night, however, tries to step into the breach
House Democrats name Hakeem Jeffries the party’s first Black leader, Elon Musk shows off brain implants, and Prince William and Kate Middleton visit the U.S. amid a U.K. racism scandal.
more on our “news” issue
and
ms petri’s Opinion | The GOP ditches McCarthy as speaker for the Thing that is not him – The Washington Post
The local paper (one of the oldest in the country) is nothing but a totally right wing waste of paper. I ceased reading it or buying it years ago and i don’t care one little bit if they go belly up and kick the bucket while buying the farm. Adios, ya bunch of goobers.
sturge, for every bad one (or two, maybe three) there’s a good one. the weekly rag here ain’t worth much, but it does do a creditable job keeping up with the local pols activities that impact the county, letting folks know who died, who went to jail and who won or lost the high school football/basketball game.
oh, and how the survivors of the cornbread mafia (reknown marijuana growers) are doing now that they’re out of prison, writing books and making do with producing CBD.
” The Legislature, city hall, school boards, planning commissions and other governing entities are free to operate with little scrutiny and citizens are left in the dark”.
That’s why DOJ’s Public Corruption unit has grown so much, it’s the only way to punish the crooks. But they’re still too busy to keep up.
Difrient but tall le same.
Pat, yep, we have a nice weekly paper (The City Paper) which fills my bill about what a newspaper should be. I just, like i said, don’t care one whit about the main paper which only serves to advance the causes of right wing assholes.
A privately owned paper, I’m sure it’s owned by the descendants of slave owners who seem to wish things had never changed.
The D.C. region is weird for media coverage. Newspapers, this mornings theme, have their major coverages. I live in the Annapolis area, The Capitol Gazette, covers the local city and part of the county. The Baltimore Sun covers Maryland, Baltimore and a bit more of the county. Washington Post covers D.C. and Virginia counties next to D.C. with the Maryland counties next to D.C. There are slight overlaps, but not much. I end up having to go through each newspaper to find all the articles that affect my life. (not that I mind though)
Television is even tighter coverage. D.C. stations cover D.C. and right next door in Virginia. Baltimore stations cover Maryland. Almost no overlap.
As for newspapers, I finally quit my Sydney, Australia, subscription. No more hope of emigrating there. But, I do have several offers just in case I want to pick up my subscription again. With that I am down to six or seven newpaper subscriptions, three online and paper delivery. You cannot fold a cellphone to read two or three pages at once. And, when I go somewhere, such as when I got a new windshield in the truck, I carry a couple of newspapers with me and share the wealth in the waiting room. It is very interesting to watch people just touch a newspaper for the first time in years. The tactile sensation is amazing. They will even sniff the paper and ink.
” It is very interesting to watch people just touch a newspaper for the first time in years. The tactile sensation is amazing. They will even sniff the paper and ink.”
BBronc, that line brought back fond memories of wonderful sunday mornings reading WaPo/NYTimes in a little cafe near harvard sq that always played soothing classical music and provided unending cups of great coffee for their very few early bird customers. magical time. visited it a few years ago but alas found nothing the same.
Coffee with the morning paper used to be almost an obsession, but i broke the habit due to a well timed Jonah Goldberg op ed column. I think it was him, but could have been someone else; the end result was the same.
After i visited Sydney, Melbourne, and Bendigo i had notions of moving there but it never developed past notion status.
Sniffing the papers conjures images of grammar school sniffing of the mimeographed test papers.
kinda interesting look back in a 2013 new yorker story
Sing All About It: Songs About Newspapers | The New Yorker
Australia had morphed into a Hammond B-3 organ and the rest is academic, not to mention moot.
Billy Pilgrim done come unstuck in time. When I saw the koalas and the furry kangaroos JFK was still 2 months away from his appointment in Samarra. Then in March of ’64 I arrived in Dallas in time to see Jack Ruby’s mother yelling at the reporters on the courthouse steps.
Funny old dog indeed.
Some time ago I read something like “if the coach makes more than the college president, it is not a college it is a sports team with a college side hustle”. University of Colorado (CU) is hiring Deon Sanders to coach the football team. CU rarely has a strong football team, it is better known for Ralphie the bison than for bowl games. Sanders salary is to be a base of five million dollars. Yup. Turn that loser team into a money maker.
People get their news in other ways
The newspapers were rarely unbiased and remain that way today.
I can’t say I’m sorry to see them play a less important role.
This is almost 2023 and we need good reporting to know what is
going on. It’s not the newspapers that are leading the way.
people who live in flyover country small towns are even more forgotten by the established mainstream and regional media who rarely write about their issues let alone even see or be aware of them. social media, unreliable at best and dangerous at worst, can’t be counted on to investigate and bring accountability in re rural political corruption.
approximately 19% of americans live in such rural areas.
There may still be hope.
Mandatory recount ordered for Boebert/Frisch race.
Maybe don’t steal their content then?
The Problem with Jon Stewart is the most informative, thought-provoking show on TV. He’s doing what folks who call themselves journalists should be doing.
Ol’ James had to give 1000% on this one.
Michael Cohen might be right, he’s showing signs of dementia
He was at this point about to outgrow the Famous Flames. We thought James was the baddest cat in town.
Jamie – recounts in Colorado rarely do more than change by ten or so votes, unless the military votes have not been counted. My last election was a recount and I added something like one hundred eighty votes because the military votes had not been counted until a recount. The other candidates went up something around eight or nine. I still lost but by less. Colorado is a mail ballot state which is the reason there are usually few changes. The ballots have been run through the counting machines and unless there is some real odd oops the only real changes will come from adding in the over seas military votes.
“…termination of ALL RULES, regulations, and articles…”
Hey now, that’s droolin’ Marius shit right there.
Meh, it’s not dementia. Orange Adolf is, and has been, demented. It’s like Ye blaming his behavior on being bipolar, in the past. Nope.
Mental illness or mental infirmity isn’t a tool to be used to be given a pass. He doesn’t get to attempt a coup, keep lying about it, prepare to grab power again, and have folks start couching his hate speech as old-timer’s symptoms. (If it is real, we’re taking away the damned car keys.)
However, the only difference I see is in his level of desperation. He’s a trapped animal and he’s bound to go off the rails.
“i’christ, Vlad, ye’re all beshit”
–John Barth speaking to Putin.
Book of Next Month: THE SOT WEED FACTOR, by the great Jobn Barth.
He’s showing signs of desperation. That’s all. But what else could the new, House majority/Republican SOTH have planned, being so much closer in line to POTUS? There are members of Congress who can not be trusted to protect democracy.
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