Barbara Mezeske: The tale of a local print newspaper

EDITOR'S NOTE: The views and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not of Ottawa News Network.

Media conglomeration: a big mouthful that means large media corporations are buying local sources of news — including radio, television and print media. Often, this happens with little local fanfare. You wake up one morning, and the newspaper you have read with your coffee for years suddenly looks different.

Gannett (recently renamed USA TODAY) is one such media conglomerate. It is headquartered in New York City, but in this digital age, its editors and decision-makers work from various places in the country. At one point, its opinion and letter-to-the-editor content was edited from California, even if the newspaper itself was located in the Midwest.  In 2019, Gannett acquired the paper we are considering here.

When a local paper is acquired by a conglomerate, several changes begin to happen. First, local staff is reduced. Why? Because Gannett’s largest publication is USA Today, the newspaper that used to be dropped off outside your hotel door each morning. USA content is national, homogenized and standardized — suitably generic that it can be read in a Hilton in Virginia as well as a Marriott in Nevada. Those generic, homogenized articles can be plugged into any newspaper, wherever it is read. The consequence is that there is no need for a full local newsroom. Much of the content is written elsewhere: Take a look at the bylines and you can see where an opinion or an article originates.

Then, the number of days a paper is published is cut back. In some cases, the paper is published in print on certain days of the week, and digitally on other days. That means fewer delivery and printing costs.

Conglomeration reduces local competition for stories. When surrounding communities’ papers are also swallowed by the bigger corporation, there is less incentive to “scoop” the rivals. Everyone sees the same curated, mostly national, stories. Readers’ local interests are no longer a top concern. 

Why are conglomerates buying up local papers? One word: profit. A company like Gannett is interested in shareholders’ profits, not journalistic excellence. Fewer local journalists, concentration of leadership at the national level, and standardization of coverage across geographic regions make for a more streamlined operation.

So, what are the differences you notice when you sit down with the paper each morning?

One is that, if you used to read the daily newspaper to find out what’s happening in your community, it is harder to do so now. The consequence of losing local reporters is that the remaining staff is stretched thin. They simply can’t cover the local news that used to be there.

In the sample paper we are considering, the coverage of local cultural events is missing. Despite the presence of a college with some 3,500 students, you no longer see previews of theater seasons, music performances or art exhibits. Also missing is coverage of science lectures, notable grants and research initiatives, and intellectual events open to the public, like the Critical Issues Symposium.  

Also missing is coverage of local boards and commissions. Where once a reporter sat in on city council sessions and school board meetings, there is no one there.  This poses problems for local government and for schools. They have to find alternative ways to communicate with their audiences — Facebook pages, Instagram, direct mail.

County politics also get shortchanged. There is neither the staff nor the space to cover complex or messy issues. Yes, you can read about the consequences of Ottawa Impact’s majority on the board for two years. You can see the results of the local elections. However, deep dives into severance packages for short-term employees, or legal disputes that stretch over months are missing.

Your community can hold a Civil War Muster for 16 years in a row, but the local paper no longer covers it: No announcements, no photos, no promotion.

Your citizens can show up for three NO KINGS marches, each time lining River Avenue from the library to 10th Street. Thousands of people spilling over into Centennial Park, carrying signs, wearing costumes, accompanied by dogs and kids — and the local paper takes no notice. Even when local action is part of a much larger and consequential national story, there are no photos, no interviews, no analysis of the local scene.

What passes for local content is news of businesses opening or closing in downtown. Sometimes, various reporters sample local food to determine the best burrito, pizza or donut in town. Such content promotes consumerism, not the public’s understanding of issues.  

The paper in question is, of course, The Holland Sentinel. We can’t blame the remaining staff — they do their very best. We can’t blame the community — there is still an appetite for local stories. In fact, blame doesn’t fix anything.

The best response is to create new solutions, new means of returning local control and content to communities like Holland. If you are reading this piece, then you have found that solution: Ottawa News Network. Welcome.

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— Community Columnist Barbara Mezeske is a retired teacher and resident of Holland. She can be reached at bamezeske@gmail.com.