As a teenager in the 1960s, I can still remember being able to buy four newspapers for less than a dollar and getting change back. At the end of the day laying off or offering buyouts to employees, increasing the newsstand price, shrinking content, reducing actual newsprint size or receiving favorable government subsidies will not be the determining factors for the survival of Newsday, the Daily News, the Post, The Times or other daily newspapers. Newsday offer of early retirement packages to employees comes within weeks of celebrating its 79th anniversary since its first issue was published on Sept. 4, 1940.
We live in one of the few remaining free societies, with a wealth of information sources available for any citizen to access. Most American cities and suburbs are down to one local daily or weekly newspaper. Papers have to deal with increasing costs for newsprint, delivery and distribution along with reduced advertising revenues and declining readership. They may face competitors in the surrounding suburbs, along with national editions of USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.
In Metropolitan New York, there are also all-news radio stations such as WCBS 88, 1010 WINS, Bloomberg News and 101.9FM News along with other radio stations. ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS have national network news, as do local affiliates along with local independent news broadcasts such as FOX 5, MY 9 and PIX 11, cable news stations such as News One (in NYC), CNBC, CNN, FOX, BBC along with News 12, FIOS One News and CBS 10/55. Many get late breaking news from the Internet. This is stale when it reaches print the next day. The growing population of new immigrants support their own newspapers, radio and television stations.
Financial challenges on maintaining the bottom line have resulted in fewer resources being devoted to investigative reporting and a greater reliance on wire service stories. As a result, original newspaper content continues to shrink. This puts more pressure on the remaining reporters assigned to various departments. There is intense competition between international, state, business, sports, entertainment and other sections of newspapers. It is becoming more difficult to provide real detailed coverage of local news.
Daily newspapers concentrate on international, Washington, Albany, business and sports stories. There are few reporters assigned to cover local neighborhood news stories. These reporters have to compete against colleagues for the limited available print space. This puts even more pressure on the remaining reporters to fight for every column inch in their respective newspapers.
Prior to New York City’s 1962 newspaper strike, there were actually 12 daily newspapers published in the Big Apple. The strike resulted in the closing or consolidation of several newspapers, including the Journal American, World Telegram & Sun, Mirror and Herald Tribune. Later both the Long Island Star Journal, Long Island Press and Suffolk Sun ended publication.
It was an era when a majority of citizens received their news from newspapers as opposed to television news. These broadcasts would be primarily local news, sports and weather, seldom more than 30 minutes. Technology and budgets were not readily available to send reporters out for remote coverage of national or international stories. Readers could select from morning, midday and late afternoon editions, available at thousands of newsstands.
Today, residents can select from Newsday, the Times, Daily News, Post, USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Staten Island Advance along with freebies such as AM New York and Metro New York. There has also been major growth in weekly papers such as Dan’s Papers, Long Island Business and dozens of others based in neighborhoods all around the five boroughs of NYC and Long Island. Neighborhood weekly newspapers provide coverage of local community news stories usually overlooked by other media.
Many of us have a continued thirst for news not only from Washington and Albany but also from the Mineola county seat and Manhasset town hall along with neighborhood and local issues, which affect our daily lives. Your weekly newspapers also provide opportunity and training for reporters. Some move on to work for daily newspapers.
If you want to be informed of what goes on in the neighborhood, read your local weekly community newspaper. Patronize their advertises and shop local. They help your friendly newspapers survive and neighborhood prosper.
In the marketplace of ideas, let us hope there continues to be room for everyone, including Newsday, the Great Neck News and other Blank Media newspaper publications. They all fill a valuable niche in the information highway.
Larry Penner
Great Neck
