Isms: Views on life in rural America

“Daily newspapers have traditionally constituted the heart and soul of local news media and they have provided the lion’s share of original reporting upon which all other news media depend,” wrote Robert McChesney and John Nichols, in the “Columbia Journalism Review” last November.

For Nebraska news enthusiasts who rely on the daily dish from a local daily newspaper, the future of news is hazy at best.

First, a majority of daily papers in Nebraska are owned by Lee Enterprises. In fact, when Lee purchased newspapers owned by Warren Buffet and Berkshire Hathaway, they inherited 12 daily papers: Beatrice, Columbus, Fremont, Lincoln, Kearney, Lexington, North Platte, Omaha, Grand Island, Wahoo-Ashland-Waverly and York.

Most recently, Lee has been laying off editors and staff at local papers at an alarming rate. Grand Island and Kearney share an editor now. Newsrooms operate with two or three reporters and, if lucky, a photographer.

In some instances, pages are shipped to a central plant, where they are designed en masse. It’s possible if you pick up a copy of the Kearney Hub and the Columbus Telegram, the front Page is the same. How unoriginal.

Gone are the days of in-depth local reporting, thorough meeting coverage and heart-tugging human interest stories. Instead, copy and paste is becoming the new norm, where the press release is crowned king.

I learned about the massive cuts in some of Nebraska’s larger newsrooms Saturday, while attending the Nebraska Press Women spring conference in York. Several members work for Lee-owned news outlets and shared news about the hemorrhaging happening in the newsroom.

Who will slow the bleed?

According to an article in Axios, “Journalists at Lee-owned papers across the U.S. say that at this point, they don’t know whether staying independent or a hedge fund takeover is worse.”

“If Alden is a cancer on journalism, Lee is COVID, MRSA and SARS,” one former editor told Axios.”

I’ve written before about a push from Alden Capital, a hedge fund, to take over newspapers across the country. It’s the purported cause of the slashes in Lee newsrooms. If Alden succeeds in securing the Lee assets, who knows what will happen to already bare-bones newsrooms. Another cut may strike the final blow.

Why should these cuts concern you and me?

It’s simple. Without local news, who will serve as the watchdog of the government? Who will be the recordkeepers of local events and milestones? Who will report news that should matter most to local communities? Without journalists, what isn’t being covered?

This is why it’s important to support local newspapers.

Local news builds a bond between government leaders and the public, playing an important role in strengthening those civic ideals that unite us.

Local news forms a shared culture and becomes a place to discuss our joys and concerns, celebrate successes and establish an identity of a community.

Local news is the connection that brings individuals together.

Without it, we may witness even more division and lose a connection we’ve worked hard to build.