On June 26, the New York Daily News will be celebrating its 100th anniversary of publishing. 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, increasing the newsstand price, shrinking content, a reduction in actual newsprint size or favorable government subsidies will not be the determining factor for the survival of the New York Daily News, New York Post, New York Times, Newsday or other daily newspapers.
We live in one of the few remaining free societies, with a wealth of information sources available for any citizen to access. However, sadly, most other American cities and suburbs are down to one local daily or weekly newspaper.
Most papers have to deal with continued rising 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 our metropolitan New York region, there are also all-news radio stations, such as WCBS 880, 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 and channel 10/55 (in Nassau and Suffolk counties). Many get late breaking news from the Internet. This is stale when reaching print the next day. The growing population of new immigrants support their own newspapers, radio and television stations.
These financial challenges on maintaining the bottom line have also 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 even 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.
Prior to the New York City 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, the 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 the Times, Daily News, New York Post, Newsday, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, 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 and dozens of others based in neighborhoods all around the five boroughs of New York City and Long Island.
Neighborhood weekly newspapers like our very own Great Neck News and other Blank Media publications, along with competitors such as the Great Neck Record and Anton Media, provide real coverage of local community news stories usually overlooked by other media.
The Sunday Times consolidation of its former City section into a Metropolitan section, combining the city with Long Island, has resulted in even less coverage of news from Long Island. Newsday, The Times, Daily News and Post, with limited space, can only provide a minimal amount of news stories based in various Nassau County neighborhoods, including Great Neck, New Hyde Park, Herricks, Albertson, Searingtown, Garden City, Mineola, Manhasset, Plandome, Port Washington and Roslyn.
There are still many like myself and others who have a continued thirst for news provided by either daily or weekly newspapers covering Washington, Albany, New York City, Nassau County and the Town of North Hempstead.
In the marketplace of ideas, let us hope there continues to be room for everyone including the Daily News, our own Great Neck News and other Blank Media publications, regardless of the price.
Larry Penner
Great Neck
