editorial

A vote for newspapers is a vote for democracy

By TOM SILVESTRI
Posted 10/21/20

Newspapers face another big election.

It’s about them.

While the United States is riveted by a most unusual presidential election, the newspaper industry is running to win the hearts, …

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editorial

A vote for newspapers is a vote for democracy

Posted

Newspapers face another big election.

It’s about them.

While the United States is riveted by a most unusual presidential election, the newspaper industry is running to win the hearts, minds and souls of “voters.”

These voters are readers, residents, subscribers, students, advertisers, marketers, sponsors and newspaper employees.

Vote by subscribing to support your local newspaper. (If you already do, a big thanks.)

Vote by advertising—cheers to current ad buyers. Patronize those who do.

Vote by engaging your newspaper. Write a letter to the editor, tweet appreciation to an enterprising reporter, send a suggestion to the publisher with a request to speak to him or her for a personal exchange.

Vote by learning more about your newspaper, its history, its mission, its staff and its ownership.

Vote by frequently checking the newspaper’s website or news alerts.

Vote by signing up for its newsletters. And if it doesn’t have one, tell the newspaper you’re interested—especially the day’s headlines or a weekly entertainment summary of what’s happening.

Vote by adding to newspaper “likes” on social media.

Vote by making a video with pro-newspaper testimonials from neighbors and friends.

Heck, put up a sign in your front yard or window boasting you’re a newspaper reader.

Fear not.

This campaign to elect newspapers is winnable, but much is at stake.

Consider this passage from longtime journalist Margaret Sullivan’s 2020 book, “Ghosting the News—Local Journalism and the Crisis of American Democracy: “Some of the most trusted sources of news—local sources, particularly local newspapers—are slipping away, never to return. The cost to democracy is great.”

For good measure, Sullivan, who is the media columnist for the Washington Post, quoted the conclusion of a major PEN American study in 2019:

“As local journalism declines,” stated the organization that champions free expression, “government officials conduct themselves with less integrity, efficiency, and effectiveness, and corporate malfeasance goes unchecked. With the loss of local news, citizens are: less likely to vote, less politically informed, and less likely to run for office.”

Democracy loses its foundation, Sullivan stated.

Vote for newspapers.

In his Aug. 16 column, H. Dean Ridings of America’s Newspapers cited the depressing study from the University of North Carolina to note that 1,800 communities have lost their local newspaper over the last 15 years.

“What would my town be without a newspaper?” the national association’s CEO wrote. “If you haven’t asked yourself that question, perhaps it is time to consider just what the newspaper means to this community.”

Among the answers Ridings provided was this:

“The most obvious is the community’s access to news about itself: the workings of its town hall; information about taxes and property values; the operation of schools for its children; the achievements, or the criminal activities, of local residents; the scores of local ball teams; schedules and reviews of movies, concerts, restaurants and books; and the offerings of local small businesses.”

This year’s National Newspaper Week should be anything but routine. It’s a time to be bold -- even daring.

Newspapers  throughout the United States and Canada should use National Newspaper Week to conduct town halls -- go virtual if you have to -- or a series of conversations that  gather answers to this simple but provocative question:

How can the newspaper become THE Community Forum?

Tom Silvestri is the executive director of The Relevance Project, which advocates for community newspapers. He retired Dec. 31 after 15 years as the president and publisher of the Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch and 42 years in newspapering. Contact him at tas@relevanceproject.net. This editorial was written to support the October 4-10 National Newspaper Week.

newspapers, election, vote, democracy

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