Reinvent [ree-in-vent], verb
to invent again or anew;
to remake or make over, as in a different form;
to bring back; revive.
About a week ago, Ray Devereaux sent me an email asking if I’d seen a special section in The New York Times on August 1 dedicated to small town newspapers. Specifically, to the demise of small town newspapers. I hadn’t, and he kindly brought me his copy the next day.
It was the saddest thing I’d ever read.
Now, for most of you, it probably wouldn’t be. But most of you haven’t dedicated the last 31 years of your life to serving your community by working for a small town newspaper.
When I started at The News the office was located on Webb Lane, just off Main St. Working there at the time was me, Fred Brennan (editor), Marge Lipani (office manager), Carol Virgillo (advertising manager), Trudy McCabe and Dot Weber (typesetters), two graphic artists, a person who printed photos in the darkroom, an ad sales representative, someone who cleaned, and someone who rolled up the newspapers for delivery to West Point every week.
As the years went on and technology improved (the computers the typesetters used when I started were literally the size of a refrigerator), the number of employees trickled down to ….. just me.
(That’s not exactly true … even then The News of the Highlands, Inc. also owned and operated The Cornwall Local, and our business staff was based in an office there, which it still is. Our advertising and graphics department are currently based in Cornwall too.)
But, here I sit in 2019 working from an office in my house (we closed that Main St. office about six years ago), on a laptop computer. No more need for a darkroom — I have a great camera, but I take a lot of my photos on my cell phone … I take notes that way too, and answer emails. Times have really changed.
But the question is, and it was answered well in that NYT story, why have small town newspapers dwindled down to a bare bones industry? The main reasons that stuck in my mind are the internet (nobody had Google or access to any type of quick info 30 years ago — I remember answering the phone at the office and people who were planning to visit West Point asking for a weather forecast from me. Those calls used to be so annoying!) People get much of their news online these days.
Another reason is our advertising revenue. The many, many small ‘mom & pop’ stores that were the mainstay of our existence are gone, replaced by big box stores and Amazon. They don’t place ads in small town newspapers. And as for the remaining ‘mom & pop’ businesses, at least here, they don’t necessarily have the revenue coming in themselves to place ads. They tend to use social media these days.
I’m not going to lie and say The News isn’t struggling like most of the remaining newspapers in our country. Our staff is working diligently to turn that around. I’d like your input. I’d like your comments on what Highland Falls and Fort Montgomery would be like without a newspaper. Would you miss it? Why? What can we do different to not only help ourself, but help our community?
A final line in the above definition of ‘Reinvent’ was this: to reinvent trust and accountability. I hope that The News has never lost anyone’s trust, and that we’ve continued to work for accountability in our community. But, if we did stray, I guess there is no time like the present to ‘reinvent’ ourself in that way too.
The News was born in 1891. Here’s to the next 128 years.
