The checkout line at the supermarket was particularly long; as long as the day I just had, running a community newspaper in a small town in northwest New Mexico. In the midst of a fatal accident that claimed the lives of two people, there were the issues of selling ads, finishing delivery of that week’s newspapers, and fixing a coin rack on the opposite side of town. Then there’s always interacting with readers.
“Do you remember me? I was in your paper six months ago,” said the woman in line next to me, who seemed more curious than agitated.
“No,” I replied, wondering what story she was involved in.
She appeared to be a housewife who may have been in one of our features about youth sports or the schools. She enlightened me that she had been arrested a few months prior and charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor when police reported that liquor was served at a party for teens. My paper had embedded her booking photo in the body of the story.
“Well, the charges I faced were dropped by the District Attorney,” she informed me.
“That’s great to hear,” I said, still trying to recognize the woman but not really giving it much thought.
“Yeah, but you’re still an asshole!” she exclaimed in the middle of the checkout line for all to hear.
With a pursed-lip grin, raised eyebrows, and shrugged shoulders, I bade the woman good day. So goes one of the joys of small-town newspapering: the inability to escape your readership and story subjects.
Standards to uphold
The National Newspaper Association reports a growing preference among readers for community newspapers — an estimated readership of 86 million from some 8,000 papers — because of the hyperlocal coverage they afford. Many large dailies have followed suit in an attempt to save dwindling circulation figures, but that’s where the similarities between the two types of publications end. Life in a community paper has its rewards but is not without unique challenges; challenges not always shared by our larger counterparts.
by Joseph J. Kolb, Editor and Publisher | Read more:
“Do you remember me? I was in your paper six months ago,” said the woman in line next to me, who seemed more curious than agitated.“No,” I replied, wondering what story she was involved in.
She appeared to be a housewife who may have been in one of our features about youth sports or the schools. She enlightened me that she had been arrested a few months prior and charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor when police reported that liquor was served at a party for teens. My paper had embedded her booking photo in the body of the story.
“Well, the charges I faced were dropped by the District Attorney,” she informed me.
“That’s great to hear,” I said, still trying to recognize the woman but not really giving it much thought.
“Yeah, but you’re still an asshole!” she exclaimed in the middle of the checkout line for all to hear.
With a pursed-lip grin, raised eyebrows, and shrugged shoulders, I bade the woman good day. So goes one of the joys of small-town newspapering: the inability to escape your readership and story subjects.
Standards to uphold
The National Newspaper Association reports a growing preference among readers for community newspapers — an estimated readership of 86 million from some 8,000 papers — because of the hyperlocal coverage they afford. Many large dailies have followed suit in an attempt to save dwindling circulation figures, but that’s where the similarities between the two types of publications end. Life in a community paper has its rewards but is not without unique challenges; challenges not always shared by our larger counterparts.
by Joseph J. Kolb, Editor and Publisher | Read more:
